


The Susan Code

by LucyCrewe11 (Raphaela_Crowley)



Series: Susan is a Mermaid, Peter Is adopted (Because That's a Thing, Seventeen-year-old Me Decided) [5]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, H2O: Just Add Water
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Drama, F/M, Fantasy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27293767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphaela_Crowley/pseuds/LucyCrewe11
Summary: Cleo, Rikki, and Emma meet a mermaid whose whole family died in a railway crash in 1949. What do Dr. Denman's great grandmother, a young man who's supposed to be dead, and a sad old man have to do to with her story?
Relationships: Emma Gilbert & Ash (H2O: Just Add Water), Lewis McCartney/Cleo Sertori, Peter Pevensie/Susan Pevensie, Zane Bennett/Rikki Chadwick
Series: Susan is a Mermaid, Peter Is adopted (Because That's a Thing, Seventeen-year-old Me Decided) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977607
Kudos: 2





	1. being young don't change the tail

**Author's Note:**

> Written September 2008

Emma Gilbert swam in a blur passed Rikki Chadwick on their way to Mako Island. It was one of their rare midnight swims.

They'd invited their friend and fellow mermaid Cleo Sertori but she hadn't come. She was at home with her father and Kim watching old re-runs of some dumb programme that she didn't actually like but had to watch because of what her father called, "Family time"

"No fair!" Rikki said as she came to the surface of the water. "You got a head start."

"Did not." Emma insisted. "I'm just faster than you are." She gave her a smug smile. "Deal with it."

Rikki splashed her.

"Hey!" Emma splashed back, using her tail to get more force.

Rikki suddenly stopped. She had a strong feeling that someone was watching them. "Cleo?"

Emma looked behind them and saw a fish tail speeding away from them. Maybe Cleo had come after all. "Hey, wait up!" She called.

She was headed for the moon pool.

"She must want to race." Rikki laughed going into full speed in the water.

When they arrived at the moon pool they cornered the tip of the mermaid's tail.

"Seeing how long you can stay under, Cleo?" Rikki asked.

The mermaid surfaced. It wasn't Cleo. Her skin was far whiter than Cleo's and her hair a shade darker. She looked a little like Gracie but not quite. After all Gracie was dead. And this mermaid's face was very different from Gracie although they shared some similarities. Her eyes were open wide. She looked about twenty or so.

"Who are you?" Emma asked. So there were other mermaids after all. She's assumed that other than Charlotte who was not a mermaid any longer anyway, they'd been the only ones.

The mermaid managed a smile. "My name is Susan." She had a British accent.

"Were you always a mermaid?" Rikki asked point blank.

"Were you?" Susan teased. Then she laughed a little. "No, I came into this pool just like you, not knowing what was going to happen. I only wanted to get my little sister and I out of the cave."

"How long have you been a mermaid?" Emma asked. This was kind of fun talking to another mermaid who wasn't trying to lure them into losing their powers.

"About...I don't know...fifty years?" Susan laughed.

"What?" Rikki and Emma gasped at the same time.

"I know, I don't look old now," Susan explained to the girls. "But it's only because mermaid age differently from humans. When I dry off I'll turn back into an old woman with a terrible cough from being in the water all night."

"That doesn't make Sense." Rikki said doubtfully.

Emma looked very thoughtful. "Wait, yes it does!"

"It does?" Rikki raised an eye brow.

"Do you remember when I dyed my hair red?" Emma said excitedly. "It was only red when I was a mermaid. So we are different as mermaids they we are as humans."

"Is it hard for you girls?" Susan asked. "I know it was hard for me."

"Sometimes it is." Emma admitted.

Susan looked like she was thinking about something. "I have a small vacation house rented for a couple of weeks. Would you girls like to come and visit me?"

"We could bring Miss Chatham." Rikki said. "She's old too."

Susan nodded politely.

"There's actually three of us." Emma said shooting Rikki a glare for being so up-front about Susan being old. "Our friend Cleo is a mermaid too."

"Ah, you can bring her with you then." Susan told them. She started to untangle a knot in her long black hair. "It's so strange having hair that's not gray..."

The next day, Emma, Rikki, and Cleo sat at the juiceNet talking about what had happened.

"I can't believe while I was home watching Margie get dumped by Mike, you actually found out something cool." Cleo sulked.

"I can't believe we might get to be young whenever we take a bath as old people." Rikki said blowing on her hot chocolate.

"She seemed so sad." Emma said softly. "Under all that cheerfulness, it seemed like she was trying not to cry."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lewis asked as he sat down next to them.

Cleo lowered her voice. "Emma and Rikki met another mermaid last night."

Both of his eyebrows shot way up. "Whoa. That's some big news."

"I know." Cleo said. "I can't believe I missed it."

Emma started to get up. "Well I think we should go visit her this afternoon."

"Good idea." Rikki turned to Cleo. "Can you invite Miss Chatham?"

"Sure." Cleo fiddled with her locket as she spoke.

"Can I come too?" Lewis practically begged.

"I don't think that's a good idea Lewis." Emma said. "I have a feeling she's a tad...skittish."

Rikki let out a snort. "Yeah right."

"Rikki!" Emma frowned at her.

"What?" Rikki rolled her eyes.

Lewis put his hands together like he was about to say prayer. "Please guys? Look, this could have a big impact on my research. She could know things that would help."

"Alright..." Emma gave in. "But don't bombard her with questions okay?"

"But didn't you guys sort of do that last night?" Cleo stuck up for him.

"You just go call Miss Chatham." Emma told her.

The house was old and weather beaten. Not the sort of house rich people vacationed in. Susan must be fairly poor. It was the cheapest house on the block and the paint was pealing off of it. A shingle or two was missing as well.

Emma rang the bell.

"Just a second." There was the sound of a person coming to the door. It Susan but not as they had seen her last night but as an old lady with a wrinkled face. Her eyes were still the same but that was about it. Everything else had changed. Her nose had a bump on it now and the duck waddle way of walking she had was nothing like the graceful swimmer they'd seen only the night before.

"You are old!" Rikki exclaimed as though surprised.

Susan chuckled. "I suppose I am. But I did warn you." She turned to Cleo. "You must be the absent mermaid from last night." Then she noticed Lewis. "And you are?"

"Lewis, ma'am." He managed he was caught off guard the girls had forgotten to tell him that she would be old.

"He knows?" Susan asked.

"He knows." The girls answered.

"I'm Louise." Miss Chatham introduced herself. "I was a mermaid once myself, But I gave it all up."

"I didn't have the chance to." Susan sounded a tad bitter but then it passed as she let them inside.

In the hallway a few pictures had been set up. There were about three of them. All in plain looking wire frames. They were all in black and white.

One was of four children standing together. Two girls and two boys. The older girl's face looked a lot like the Mermaid's face that they'd seen last night only even younger.

"Is this you?" Emma asked pointing to the picture.

"Yes it is." Susan told them.

"Who are the people with you?" Cleo asked.

"My siblings." Susan sighed. "My little Lucy, My darling Edmund, and..." She paused for a moment. "My lovely Peter."

"Do you talk to them often?" Lewis asked. "Do they know you're a mermaid? did you ever use your powers on them? are you from England?"

Louise shot him an angry look and Emma elbowed him.

"They died in a railway crash in the year 1949." Susan said gravely. "I'd rather not talk about it if it's all the same to you."

"Sure." Cleo said kindly.

The next picture was of her parents who had apparently also died. The last was of Susan and the boy she'd called Peter standing together. He had his arms wrapped around her and she was smiling.

"Is there any reason you wanted to meet us here today?" Cleo asked

"An old woman can't simply want some company?" She asked. Then there was a whistling sound. "Ah, the tea is ready." Susan waddled into the kitchen and came out with some cups and the kettle. "Tea anyone?"

Everyone took a mug and sipped it as they sat on the old slightly torn couch that had come with the house.

"How long will you be here?" Emma asked.

"I don't know." Susan sighed. "Perhaps a while. I don't care for London now...it's so fast paced and I simply can't keep up anymore."

"Oh." No one said anything now. No one knew what to say to that. The poor old woman with the dead family was obviously at lost for words too.

"So was the boy in the photo your boyfriend?" Rikki asked.

Emma slapped her forehead.

"It couldn't be it's one of her brothers." Lewis reminded them.

"I've never seen a brother and sister be that chummy before." Rikki pointed out.

"He was adopted and we did have a brief boyfriend girlfriend relationship." Susan said quickly. "now why don't we talk about something else?"

Lewis opened his mouth to ask question about her being a mermaid and full moons and what powers she had and when but all three girls and Miss Chatham's glare shut him up before he said anything.

Later that day, Lewis was talking with Max Hamilton on the beach.

"Another mermaid eh?" Max asked sounding surprised. "I didn't know about a fourth. I dare say I would've made her a locket too for Gracie's sake."

"She's from England." Lewis explained. "I can only guess she came to Mako as a tourist or something years ago."

"Poor girl." Max sighed. If she went though anything like what his Gracie went through, he pitied her.

"I know, her whole family died in a railway crash." Lewis told him.

"Oh my." Max thought he'd hadn't felt so much pity for someone in a long time. The last time he'd taken pity on someone hadn't gone well. He'd told Charlotte everything about her grandmother and that had failed. And after than he'd promised himself he would think twice before jumping on the pity train ever again. But he couldn't help but feel sorry for this poor mermaid. She didn't even have the comfort of two other mermaids to lean on.

"I wanted to ask her about her powers but I didn't get a chance." Lewis said.

"Well don't push it." Max advised him. "Let her tell you what she wants when she's ready. It's the best way." He smiled a little. "It always did work with Gracie, god bless her."


	2. A pain in the fin

"Charlotte...I'm not going to tell you anything." Max said firmly. "And that's that."

"But you've told me about the mermaids before." Charlotte whined.

Max shook his head. "And that turned out just great didn't it?" he said dryly

"I made a mistake." Charlotte said. "But if there's a new mermaid here I think I ought to know about it."

Max let out a groan. He wanted to get back to sleep. Charlotte had arrived at the crack of dawn to beg for information. She'd pounded on the door until he'd opened it. How had she found out? Max wasn't sure but he was more concerned with seeing to it that she didn't find out anything else.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Max lied.

"You do too!" Charlotte insisted. "I heard you talking to Lewis about her."

"And what pray tell did you hear?" Max folded his arms across his chest.

"I heard you mention Gracie." Charlotte said. "She was my grandmother. If it's about her then..."

"It's not about her." Max said.

"You said I was like her..." Charlotte recalled.

"Maybe but Gracie would never have done what you did." Max edged her to the door. "Now I'm sorry but I've got a long day of fishing ahead and need you to get gone."

Charlotte wasn't going so easily. "But It's not like I don't already know all about the mermaids I was one of them remember?"

Max sighed. "Charlotte for the love of all that is holy, will you please get out of my house?"

"Jerk!" Charlotte called as Max slammed the door in her face.

She let out a huff and headed down the beach. It wasn't fair. She had a right to know these things. She did! How dare Max keep this sort of thing from her. Suddenly she noticed an old woman walking down to the sea. The woman was slow and wobbled when she walked. If she could barely walk, how could she swim? Maybe she as just going to put her feet in the water.

Charlotte hid behind a rock to watch. The old woman dived into the water thinking no one was watching. She stayed under for a moment, when she came back up, she wasn't old anymore. Her gray hair was black and her wrinkles were smoothed. But what Charlotte noticed most was that she had a golden fish tail were her legs ought to have been.

"Hey you!" Charlotte called dumbly after the mermaid.

Susan let out a gasp and swam away as fast as she could. Charlotte smiled she knew where she was probably headed. She got in a boat and drove to Mako Island as fast as she cold.

"Hello." Charlotte gave her a cold smile as she arrived.

"What do you want?" Susan asked alarmed to see this strange girl by the moon pool.

"To talk to you." Charlotte said.

"You don't want to send me to some lab?" Susan asked not sure she could trust this girl. Her eyed danced just a little to much for someone who, just wanted to talk.

"I used to be a mermaid too." Charlotte told her. There that should calm her down a bit.

Susan did calm down but not much. She still didn't trust Charlotte.

"Did you know this woman?" She asked pulling out a photo of Gracie.

"No." Susan said. "I've never met her. Who was she?"

Charlotte's face fell and Susan almost felt bad for her. "You mean you never knew her at all?"

"No." Susan said. "I've lived in England most of my life."

"Then how did you..." Charlotte wanted to know.

Susan let out a sigh. "I came to Mako as a young woman with my family one. Does that answer your question?" She flipped her tail in the water signaling that she wanted to go.

"Not really." Charlotte said. "See, Gracie wasn't only another mermaid like you, but she was also my grandmother."

"That's nice?" Susan didn't know what to say to that.

Charlotte sat down by the moon pool so that she was eye-to-eye with the new mermaid. "I just want to connect with her somehow you know?" Charlotte started to cry a bit. "First I tried modeling to be like her but that didn't work. Then I found about her being a mermaid..." Charlotte reached into her backpack that she had brought with her and pulled out her laptop and the DVD of Gracie and Max together. She slid it in and pressed play.

Susan felt like she might burst into tears. Not so much because she pitied Charlotte but because Gracie and Max were very much like herself and Peter. It hurt to remember but she let her mind take her there anyway. A few tears escaped. As Max threw Gracie into the water, even more tears fell. She could see clearly in her minds eye, Peter doing the same thing to her.

She didn't have a real video, nor did she need one, she could play it in her mind perfectly. With no brown lines and with sound. She could hear her own play-scream perfectly clear. She could hear Edmund laughing in the back ground as she surfaced, now a mermaid. She could see Lucy's little hands clapping.

In the video on Charlotte's laptop, Gracie now was surfacing as a mermaid and waving up at Max. Susan was fully weeping now. She couldn't help it.

"Are you crying?" Charlotte asked dumbly.

"No." Susan lied. "I just have something in my eye. That's all."

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders. "Well anyway, after I found out, I wanted to be a mermaid, I got Max-that's the boy from the video only he's old now-to tell me what I needed to know. And I became a mermaid too."

"But you're not one now?" Susan asked when she had stopped crying.

"No." Charlotte admitted. "I wanted to be the only true mermaid and in a way I was, Emma, Rikki, and Cleo only had one power each, I had three."

Susan tossed her head and let out a laugh. "You weren't the only true mermaid." She waved her hand at the water and it moved the way Cleo often made water change shape then she let it rise and froze it. Then she clenched her hand and it boil-melted back into the pool.

Charlotte turned green with envy at that. It was bad enough that Rikki, Emma, and Cleo still had their tails but this was too much.

The said, Rikki, Emma, and Cleo arrived at the moon pool at that moment.

"Hey, Susan." They said happy to see her there. Then they noticed an angry looking Charlotte standing nearby.

"What do you want?" Cleo demanded.

"You're not welcome here." Rikki said.

"I think you should go." Emma told her.

Charlotte stormed out without even saying goodbye to Susan.

"I don't like that girl much." Susan said.

"Tell me about it." Cleo rolled her eyes.

"How did she find out about you?" Rikki asked.

Susan shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, she saw me turn into a mermaid and then came after me here." She turned to Emma and Cleo. "Will she keep her mouth shut?"

"She's has so far but there's always a chance she'll betray us." Cleo explained.

"Maybe I shouldn't have showed her my powers then." Susan said in a guilty voice.

"Powers, what powers? Show me." Lewis had just shown up and was a bit over eager to learn. So much for Max's advice.

"Okay." Susan seemed to be suppressing a laugh. She moved her hand and a ton of water shot out of the pool and knocked Lewis down. when he stood up again he was soaking wet.

"You want to see more?" Susan teased.

"Why don't you just tell me about your other powers." Lewis said trying to dry himself off a bit. "I think I've seen enough."

Emma, Rikki and Cleo burst out laughing.

Meanwhile Charlotte sat on her boat headed back for the mainland. She'd decided she didn't like Susan one bit. Emma, Rikki, and Cleo were small fish when all was said and done but Susan was a big deal. Charlotte wasn't sure what she was going to do to her but she certainly wasn't just going to let her be.


	3. You knew Julia! And a talk of life

Susan sat on a very breakable-looking rocking chair holding the framed black and white photo of her and her siblings. They all looked so lovely and full of life. Lucy was holding a doll in her arms, her hair was curled and she had a big smile that almost reached from ear to ear. Peter looked like he was in mid laughter and his right hand was on Lucy's shoulder. Edmund was squinting in the sunlight and his smile though genuine, seems a little strained. Susan herself was standing behind Edmund giving him bunny ears with two of her fingers.

Looking at that photo was painful but sometimes, Susan felt that if she didn't look at it, she might die. Her heart might stop beating for lack of happy memories. The memories were okay but oh, how the pain of coming back with a sickening thud made her wish she'd been in the crash with them. She sighed, standing up to put the photo back on the table. Without really wanting to she let her eyes stray to the photo of Peter with his arms around her.

It was the photo that wasn't meant to exist. It shouldn't have. But it did. They'd fallen in love with out meaning too. It wasn't morally wrong or anything. He wasn't blood related to her. But that didn't change they way they'd been brought up. Susan often down played their relationship when she talked to others. When she was younger, she'd lied about it or hid it so she didn't have to lie about it. But as she got older it seemed silly to do so. No one cared about the love affairs of an old woman in her younger years. She could've courted a monkey and no one who was alive now would give a crud. But she wasn't open about how she'd felt about him. She always spoke very matter-a-fact about their time as boyfriend and girlfriend when it came up.

Suddenly there was a light knock at the door. Susan wiped the tears from her eyes and wobbled over to answer it.

Miss Chatham stood there with a cardboard box under her arm. "Are you up for some company?"

"I'd like that." Susan told her with a smile.

"You've been crying." Miss Chatham noted.

Susan didn't bother lying. Miss Chatham wasn't the sort of person you lied to anyway. Rather she was the sort of person you told your problems to and you just knew she listened and maybe even understood. "Yes, I have, I was thinking about some things that got me all teary, do come in."

"Crying is good." Miss Chatham said. "I often do so myself."

"Would you like some tea Louise?" Susan offered politely. Her mother Helen had always offered tea to visitors when she was alive and of course Susan had picked up the habit.

"I can't say I'd mind some. I rather enjoyed your British tea last time." Louise smile-thanked her.

"Well then come, we'll sit at the kitchen table and wait for it to boil." Susan when into the little beat up kitchen with the intent of setting up the tea but she found to her disappointment that the stove had kicked off again.

"That's alright." Miss Chatham said with an understanding nod. "I'd rather talk than drink tea anyway."

"So would I." Susan agreed easing herself into a chair.

Miss Chatham placed her box on the table and opened it. "I wanted to show you my friends...they're long gone now, but they were mermaids just like I was and you still are."

Susan's eyes grew wide when Louise took out the first photo. There were three girls in it. One was obviously a young Miss Chatham. The other was the same Gracie that had been the grandmother of Charlotte. But the third was no stranger. Susan found that she'd met her before.

"Julia!" She gasped. "Julia was a mermaid? Edmund's Julia?" She put her hand to her heart as if the shock was a bit too much to take.

"You knew Julia?" Miss Chatham asked.

"Yes." Susan said trying not to cry at remembering the young woman who'd come to visit London and had come to their very house for supper more than once. Her brother had been in love with Julia.

"You knew Edmund?" Miss Chatham looked even more surprised now.

"He was my younger brother." Susan told her.

"Did he know you were a mermaid?" She asked.

Susan nodded.

"Then he wouldn't have betrayed Julia at all." Miss Chatham looked a little sad.

"What do you mean?" Susan asked.

"Well Julia went on a trip to England and when she'd come back she told Gracie and I all about a boy called Edmund Pevensie. She told us she was in love with him and that she was going to tell him that she was a mermaid. Or course, Gracie and I reminded her of her last boyfriend Carl who'd tried to expose her after she'd told him. And we figured Edmund would've done the same..."

"Ed would never." Susan said firmly.

"But we didn't know that back then." Miss Chatham said sadly. "We only wanted to protect her. And we talked her out of going back to England to find him again. She did cry a good deal though."

"Edmund waited two years for her." Susan recalled a lump forming in her throat. "It's so strange that we were both mermaid and neither of us..." Her throat was closing now. She got up and poured herself a glass of water. And she got one for Louise too.

"I'm sorry." Miss Chatham said.

"It's alright." Susan said as soon as she could talk again. "You didn't know."

"So both Edmund and Julia are long gone now." She shook her head as if it was a difficult math problem she couldn't grasp.

"It isn't fair." Susan said. "We all lost everything."

"Susan, did you ever tell a boy you loved that you were a mermaid?" Miss Chatham asked.

"I did." Susan laughed a little remembering. "I tipped a glass of water on myself to show him."

"Did he ever try to tell on you?"

"Never." Susan said. "What about you? Did you ever..."

"I never even fell in love." Miss Chatham sighed. "I was luckier than the others in that aspect. Gracie was in love with Max. And with Julia first Carl and then your brother...me I just was too busy helping them to bother."

Susan got up and went into the living room and pulled a small box out from under the couch where she slept. "I want to show you something Louise."

Box in hand, Susan came back into the kitchen and pulled another black and white photo out of the box. It was a photo of Edmund, Julia, and Lucy. Julia was crotched next to Lucy who was sitting on a wood floor by a doorway. Edmund stood next to them.

"So that's Edmund." Louise smiled. "Julia looks so happy. The little girl is you young sister?"

"Lucy." Susan said. "Sweet Lucy. Julia adored her but really, everyone loved little Lucy she was the sweetest girl around."

"Was Edmund very upset when she...didn't come back?" Miss Chatham wanted to know.

"It really upset him." Susan said downplaying it a bit to spare Miss Chatham's feelings.

There was a knock at the door. Saved by the knock! Susan wobbled over and answered it. "Hello?"

Max stood there. "You don't know me but, I'm a friend."

"Beg pardon?"

"It's alright Susan." Louise said. "That's just Max."

"Gracie's Max?" Susan asked. "From Charlotte's video?"

"So you've already met Charlotte." Max shook his head as if deeply annoyed and walked into the house closing the door behind him. "Whatever you do, don't trust her."

"I don't." Susan assured him.

"I only ever liked her because I saw some of Gracie in her." Max explained. "But Gracie was never so heartless or selfish as Charlotte's become."

"How did she lose her tail?" Susan asked.

"She was trying to trick the other girls into the moon pool during a special moon that would take away their powers for ever, but they out smarted her and got her in there." Max looked proud. "Clever girls." Then he looked grave. "If only Gracie were here to talk some sense into that child."

There was another knock at the door. Susan sighed and opened it. She smiled when she saw who it was. "Oh Hello, Cleo."

"Hi." Cleo said as she walked it.

"What are you doing today?" Miss Chatham asked.

"Avoiding dish duty so I don't grow a tail in front of my whole family." Cleo told them.

"Good idea." Susan said. She'd never had to worry about that in her family. Thankfully, Peter always did them for her. He always told mum, "I like doing the dishes." Even though he didn't. Then he'd turn and wink at Susan who was smile at him and mouth, "I'll make it up to you."

"Are you alright Susan?" Cleo asked.

"Fine dear." Susan lied. "I was just thinking about..."

Cleo remembered that Susan didn't like to talk about certain things and let it go. "Well, I was wondering if you needed some canned foods...we ran a can drive at school and..."

Susan chuckled a bit. "I'd be a fool to turn down free food."

Oh, she was poor. Not even rich enough to say, "Thanks but I really shouldn't..."

"Cleo, I think I'm going to go for a swim...would you like to join me?" Susan offered kindly.

Cleo nodded and the two of them dived into the water. Cleo couldn't help the shock when Susan turned into a young mermaid as the water hit her. She knew it was going to happen, she'd already seen young Susan before but it was still odd.

Later, they rested together in the moon pool after racing to Mako (Susan had actually won much to Cleo's surprise.)

"You and that Lewis boy are pretty close aren't you?" Susan said as if wanting to tell her something but not sure how to.

"Yes, he's my boyfriend." Cleo told her.

"Ah..." Susan had never really told anyone about herself and Peter other than a brief mentioning but something told her that she should tell Cleo, that would be good, for both of them. "I had a Lewis once...but his name was Peter."

"The boy from the photo?" Cleo asked. "The adopted one?"

"Yes, that was him." Susan closed her eyes remembering. "He was the first to know about my secret. I was so scared about him finding out but he was such a big help..." And she told her everything.

"Wow." Cleo said when she had finished. "How did you deal after he...died?"

"I cried for days on end." Susan said. "I wasn't strong, Cleo. You might think that I was brave or something because I've been a mermaid for so long and am still alive and free. Sweetie, simply being alive doesn't mean living. You don't live without love. Without caring...I can't say I've really lived since 1949..."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Cleo asked.

"I just had the feeling you needed to hear it more than the others." Susan explained.

"I think you're right." Cleo had always been the shy one unable to fully embrace being a mermaid. Did she want to end like Susan or Gracie or Julia? Did she want to die alone or worse live with out living? It was a good thing she had Lewis and her friends. But they could be gone at any moment just like Susan's family so she promised herself to live every moment with them the best she could.


	4. what today is

"So what are we doing today?" Rikki asked Emma as she leaned over the counter at the JuiceNet to grab her smoothie.

Emma shrugged as Rikki handed her the money for the drink she was now slurping. "I don't know. We could always go visit Susan again. She does seem to enjoy the company."

Cleo who'd been sitting there half-listening to them talk agreed with her. "She always does perk right up when she sees us at the door doesn't she?"

"I'll bet that when she was younger, she didn't spend much time alone." Emma guessed. "She might not like being by herself."

"I'm really glad she gets along with Miss Chatham and Max." Cleo said.

As they talked, Lewis walked up to them and sat down next to Cleo. "So what are you all doing today?"

"We're going to visit Susan after I get off my shift." Emma told him. "Maybe invite her to come for a swim with us."

"I don't know if she'll feel like swimming." Lewis said causally. "My guess is that she'll be a bit bummed out."

"Why?" Cleo asked, her voice full of concern.

Lewis sighed. "Don't you know what today is?"

"Um no?" Rikki rolled her eyes. "But I know you're going to tell us anyway."

Lewis pulled out his laptop and turned it on. "It's the anniversary of the Railway crash." He turned the laptop so it faced the girls.

"Are you sure it's the same one Susan's family died in?" Emma asked him. Lewis had been known to get facts mixed up sometimes.

"Pretty sure." Lewis told them. "It's the big one, it's in the right year, and..." He reached into his bag and pulled out a folder. "I did some research and found this article from a little-known newspaper that's been out of print for years."

Emma picked up the folder and pulled the article out. She cleared her throat and read the title out loud. " _Dead local knew the unknown?"_

"Keep reading." Lewis told her.

" _While searching for any survivors of the tragic crash that occurred yesterday,_ _a young man's brief case was found. It was believed that the owner who's body was not found, and is was revealed to be a London local, may have been hit by the train while waiting for it to come in."_ Emma read on.

"So?" Rikki cut in. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Cleo gave Lewis a confused look. "Why are you showing this to us, Lewis?"

Lewis frowned at them. "Just keep reading."

Emma sighed. "Okay, Okay, where was I?"

"Body not found." Cleo told her.

Emma found her place. " _In the briefcase, documents where found that indicate the local was studying Mermaids. Although, Mermaids are believed to be myths the briefcase (Along with other oddly scientific information) contained a photo of what looked like a real mermaid. This photo was revealed to be a complete fake as the mermaid's face was actually the face of a relative of said locals. But some claim that while that photo fake or real is not the final say on whether or not the young man knew a real mermaid or even mermaids. The locals name was withheld from reporters but his sister and only currently living relation told reporters, 'I don't know why some people are making such a big deal of this. Lots and lots of humans beings are left dead and all people can worry about is a stupid myth? It's not even real, it was a school assignment.' Still it is worth noting about the letter found among the documents. Although parts of the letter were damaged, and it is unclear as to whom it is addressed, undamaged parts of letter seems to suggest it was written to some who had a very deep understanding of water creatures that most humans do not._ "

"Wow." Cleo said in a breathless voice. "You don't think..."

Lewis nodded. "That's exactly what I think. I think the mermaid mentioned here is Susan and that the unnamed local is one of her brothers."

"Wait a minute!" Rikki snapped. "You don't that for sure, all you've got is a clipping of a newspaper from 1949."

"She's right, for all we know, this could be a hoax." Emma sighed. "Simply wanting to believe we've found something doesn't mean anything."

Lewis disagreed. "I say we ask Susan about it." Sure Max had said to let her tell things on her own terms but her own terms weren't getting them anywhere.

"Are you completely insane?" Emma glared at him. "That old woman is suffering. We can't just bring this up."

Cleo looked at Lewis. "Promise you won't bring this up to her?"

Rikki started typing things into Lewis's laptop, "Hey, look at this."

Cleo, Emma, and Lewis looked at the screen. It was another article from 1949 it was about the lost funding of the new paper that had published the article they'd just read.

"A News Paper office was closed down today." Cleo read aloud. "They were accused of publishing nonsense children's stories and passing them off as news and all their funding was taken away yesterday morning."

"What's that?" Emma pointed to a small star next to the article.

"It's a foot note." Rikki told her.

"Well, what's it say?" Lewis asked.

Rikki scrolled down.

"The footnote reads, visiting reporter, Ella Sting, expressed deep anger at the closing of the news papers headquarters." Cleo read.

"Can we run a search on Ella Sting?" Emma wanted to know.

Rikki typed her name into a search engine. "Not that many hits. She isn't well known."

"Look at that." Lewis pointed to a website listed.

"The Sting theory?" Emma pondered out loud. "What could that be?"

Rikki clicked on the link.

Lewis let out a gasp.

"No way!" Cleo pointed to a posted black and white photo of Ella Sting.

"She looks just like Dr Denman." Rikki exclaimed.

"In order for that to be Dr. Denman, she'd have to be really old." Emma pointed out.

"It says 'Produced by Dr Denman'." Cleo said not taking her eyes away from the screen.

"So this means Deman's got some sort of ability to make herself young for ever?" Rikki asked.

"Hardly." Lewis chuckled. "It's her great Grandmother."

"He's right." Emma said. "According to this website, Ella Sting's daughter Maria, married a man named Kit Denman."

"But what's the theory?" Cleo wanted to know.

"Mermaids living among humans." Lewis gulped. "no wonder Dr. Denman was so eager to expose you guys, it would prove that her grandmother was right."

"But what did Ella Sting know about mermaids?" Rikki asked.

Cleo nervously fiddled with her hair. "I don't like where this is going."

"According to this, she believed that a young woman from London whose name is withheld, was a mermaid." Lewis said starting to feel sick to his stomach.

"Susan?" Emma guessed.

"Possibly." Lewis nodded. "It says here that Ella Sting said, 'She's only human when she's dry, as soon as water touches her, she gets her tail.'"

"But if it is Susan, she's perfectly safe, I mean, Ella's been dead for years, it says so right here." Rikki reminded them.

"Well, that's true." Emma sighed.

Cleo nodded. "Poor Susan though, if this is the anniversary of the crash, then today must be really hard for her."

"I get off my shift in ten minutes, I'll meet you there." Emma told them.

"I thought we were all going together." Cleo said.

Emma shook her head. "No, It's best that she has someone to talk to as soon as possible."

"Why study that when you're living it?" A voice from behind made them jump. Charlotte was standing there looking very smug.

"What do you want?" Rikki sneered.

Lewis snapped the laptop shut (Not that it would do any good as she had already seen the site name.)

"Nothing." Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and walked away.

"Great, she's up to something." Cleo sighed, this just got worse and worse.

"Never mind that now." Emma said. "You guys just get going."

A perky looking blonde girl came out of no where and bounced behind the counter. "Yay, my first job!" She cheered.

"You're ten minutes early." Emma told her.

The girl blinked and knitted her brows as if that had never crossed her mind before. "My first job! yay!" She repeated. "So do I start now?"

Emma shook her head and groaned, "No, Lisa, it's still my shift."

"But I can't wait anymore." The girl whined loudly, tapping her fingers on the counter. "I'm too excited."

Rikki started laughed. "Just let her take the shift, Em."

Emma didn't like the idea.

"Then you can come see Susan with us." Cleo reminded her.

Oh well, her time was almost up anyway. "Fine."

"Yay!" Lisa jumped up and down clapping.

"The sad thing is that one day that girl might be in charge of a big business." Lewis said as they walked away.

Meanwhile, Charlotte grinned evilly and searched Ella Sting on the internet until she came across what she was looking for. The phone number of Dr. Denman.

Rikki knocked on Susan's door slightly worried that the old rotten wood might crumble as she did so. There was no answer.

"Is she okay?" Emma asked. "She always answers."

"Give her a chance, she's can't walk very fast." Cleo said.

"Why are you here Lewis?" Rikki asked him while they waited. "You're not going to ask her about that article are you?"

"Well..."

"Lewis!" Emma, Cleo, and Rikki said at the same time.

"The door's not locked." Rikki noticed. She opened the door and started to go in.

"Rikki, you can't just walk into someone else's house." Emma hissed.

"She's right." Cleo protested.

"Do you really think she'd mind?" Rikki asked them. "What if she's hurt or something?"

The other two girls sighed and followed her. Lewis trailed behind them.

"Susan?" they called. "You here?"

There was no answer but they could hear someone crying in the kitchen.

They peered in. Susan was sitting at the table with a bunch of things spread out in front of her. Tons of black and white photos, a top hat, small bracelets that looked too small for anyone over the age of nine, and a few yellowed letters scattered here and there.

"Maybe we should come back later." Emma said.

Susan heard her. "Who's there?" She gasped suddenly looking both ways.

"It's just us, Miss Pevensie." Lewis said.

"Susan." Susan corrected him. "Miss Pevensie was my great aunt."

"Oh, sorry." He said.

"We just wanted to see if you were alright." Cleo explained kindly. "Lewis for some reason thought today was..."

"Well, he was right." Susan told them, already guessing what they meant to say.

"What's all this stuff?" Rikki asked looking at the table.

Susan gave them a small smile. "My family's old things. It's all I have left of them now."

"Who's hat is that?" Lewis asked trying to not laugh at the funny looking thing.

"My fathers." Susan told him. "And it's okay if you want to laugh, I used to laugh every time he put that thing on. I thought I'd die from embarrassment if one of my friends ever saw him leave the house with it." She chuckled a bit. "Funny thing is I'd give anything to see him put it on just one more time."

"What are these?" Emma asked pointing to the bracelets.

"They were little Lucy's when she was small." Susan told them. "I made them for her my self out of beads."

"Is that Peter?" Rikki asked looking at one of the photos on top of the pile. It was a slightly blurry black and white photo of a young man looking up from a desk with all his notebooks spread out in front of him.

"Yes." Susan told her. "Wasn't he handsome? You know, that's the last photo anyone ever took of him. Lucy talked father into letting her use his camera." She closed her eyes remembering everything about that day. Lucy running around wasting film by talking photos of everything. Of course few of them even came out at all.

"Who's this?" Lewis picked up another black and white photo this one was of a dark-haired little boy with a missing front tooth holding a cat that was trying to squirm out of his grip.

"Edmund." Susan sighed. "He was seven years old when that was taken."

Rikki picked up one of the letters. It looked like it was written in Crayon and almost every word was misspelled.

"Oh, Lucy sent me that when I went away to boarding school for the first time and she was too little to come." Susan explained. She took a deep breath. "I think that's enough for now." She said. "I'll pack this stuff up and give you my full attention." Carefully she packed it all way in a box and placed the box in a corner of the house.

"What have you got there, Lewis?" Susan asked looking at the folder in his hand. The girls glared at him.

"Nothing." He said quickly. Then he added. "Well, it's an article about the crash of 1949..."

"Let me see." Susan sighed as he handed her the folder. She looked at his and frowned. "Ella was a horrid human being."

"Wait...the article doesn't say anything about Ella..." Lewis pointed out.

"I know who she is without some article telling me, who do you think pitched this story?" Susan snapped. "She made my life a living nightmare when she suspected me of being a mermaid. Thankfully she didn't live in London and only bothered me when she came to visit."

"What did you do?" Cleo asked.

Susan smiled. "Do you really think I had to do anything about her when Peter was alive? He told her that if she didn't stay away from me, he was going to report her to the police as a stalker." Her smile started to fade. "When he died it was harder but I managed avoid her. She didn't even know my last name."

"What about the briefcase?" Lewis asked.

"It was given to me of course." Susan told him. "Where else would they have sent it. Ella wanted it for herself of course but legally it was mine."

"Do you still have it?" Lewis asked, despite getting angry looks from the girls.

"I burned it." Susan said. "I had to. I couldn't risk anyone ever seeing that stuff."

"Oh." Lewis looked disappointed.

Susan changed the subject. "Max and Louise are coming over tomorrow night, will you be joining them?"

Rikki, Emma, and Cleo exchanged glances. "We can't, it's the full moon tomorrow night."

"That's right, I keep forgetting." Susan said. "I'm just not as sharp as I used to be. Would you believe the other day I was quite upset about not being able to boil water because the stove kicked off again and It never crossed my mind for me to use my powers? I rarely ever use them now-a-days. Other than when I'm a mermaid that is."

"Did you have a hard time coping with the full moon when you were young?" Rikki asked.

"Oh goodness, yes!" Susan exclaimed. "I was simply insane during the full moon."

"I hate full moons." Cleo sighed. "Nothing good ever happens during them."

"Nothing, you can remember usually, but you never know." Susan said in a far off voice. "I had my first kiss while under the moon's effect."

"Really?" Emma asked.

"Yes, and I have no memory off it at all." Susan told her. "I think I nearly had a stroke when the boy finally gave in and told me. I think he wanted to spare me embarrassment or something."

"Who was it with?" Cleo asked.

"Who do you think?" Susan smiled at her.

"Oh."

Meanwhile Dr Denman's phone rang and she raced to pick it up.

"Dr Denman?" A girl's voice said.

"Speaking."

"My name is Charlotte Watsford, I'm calling in regards to the research you did on mermaids recently."

"What about it?" Linda Denman said in a test voice. She didn't like being teased about her work. If only Emma, Rikki, and Cleo hadn't lost their tails...she'd be rich and famous now.

"You want a mermaid? I can get you one." Charlotte told her. "Her name is Susan Pevensie."

"If this is some kind of joke..."

"No joke." Charlotte assured her. "You'll have to trust me on this."

"Tell me more." Dr Denman said in a greedy voice.


	5. Full moons and boats

It was the night of the full moon. Old Susan Pevensie sat on her couch shivering (The heater was broken beyond any possible chance of being repaired. She pulled her mother's old knitted blanket tightly around herself and hoped the cold feeling would pass.

There was a knock at the door. Susan shrugged her shoulders and got to answer it. It must be Max and Louise. In her old years, Susan had gotten rather careless about the moon's effects. She hadn't been moonstruck for at least forty-five years if not longer so she didn't think anything of opening the door.

Louise was much more careful about such things and had sent word that she would not be coming over that night. She feared that Susan might see the moon when she came to open the door for them. She'd also meant to ask Max to do the same but her had forgotten her mind not being as sharp as it used to be. So Max arrived at the door (He'd forgotten about the full moon) And wondered where Louise could be.

The moment Susan opened the door, the moon's light hit her. She gazed at it and walked passed Max with out so much as a greeting.

"Oh no." Max groaned when he realized what was happening.

Susan wobbled over to the beach and touched the water were the moon was reflected before Max could stop her. She instantly turned young, her tail appeared, and she swam out into the ocean.

Max groaned again and called Lewis's cell phone. "Lewis, this is Max, I need to borrow your boat."

Lewis was sitting with Cleo, Rikki, and Emma watching TV at Cleo's house. Kim was sleeping over a friend's house and Cleo's dad was away on a business trip.

"Why?" Lewis asked as he swallowed the mouthful of popcorn he'd been chomping on when the phone rang.

"Well, Susan was um...kind of hit by the full moon and is headed for Mako..." Max explained feeling very stupid.

"She what?" Lewis gasped. This was not good. "I'll be right there!"

"What happened?" Cleo asked.

He told them.

"We have to help her." Rikki said.

"No, Max and I have to help her." Lewis corrected Rikki. "If you go out there you'll get hit by the full moon too."

"He's right, Rikki." Emma sighed. "We can't go."

"Everything will be fine." Lewis assured them. "Just wait here and don't leave the house."

They all nodded and promised to stay inside. Lewis ran the door grabbing his coat and boat keys. Rikki waited half a second before getting up and heading for the door herself.

"Rikki, what are you doing?" Emma demanded. "We can't go out there."

"Em, Susan might look young but she's really old, she doesn't know Mako as well as we do, or even as well as Mrs. Chatham or Max. She's confused and moonstruck and suffering loss that she never got over...Do you really think it's safe for her out there?" Rikki said getting even closer to the door.

"Lewis and Max will find her and get her back home." Cleo insisted. "And if it isn't safe for her, it isn't safe for us either."

"Look, Susan's our friend, she may be really old, and even a bit weird but I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing." Rikki said her hand going for the door knob.

"Rikki, don't!" Cleo begged.

She ignored her and started to turn the knob.

Emma got up and tried to pull Rikki away from the door. But she wasn't fast enough, as soon as she was close enough to pull Rikki away, the door was already opened and moon light was pouring in. Emma and Rikki glanced up at the moon. Cleo caught sight of it's refection in the floor tiles. And the three moonstruck mermaids headed for Mako as fast as their tails could take them there.

They zoomed right passed Max and Lewis's boat.

"Please tell me that was not what I think it was." Lewis said.

"It was what you think it was." Max sighed. "Sorry. I've see that often enough to know."

Lewis shook his head. "What part of 'stay inside' wasn't clear to them?"

"The 'Stay' part." Max said.

"This isn't time for a joke, Max." Lewis said sharply.

"Who's joking?"

"Now we've got to round up four Mermaids." Lewis said getting more annoyed by the second.

"I'm sorry." Max said. "I should've known better."

"It's not your fault." Lewis told him. "You didn't make Emma, Rikki, and Cleo follow her."

Meanwhile, The said Rikki, Cleo, and Emma had just arrived at the moon poll as he'd finished his sentence. Susan was already there looking up at the moon and sighing loudly.

"I miss them so much." Susan started to weep loudly. "Why did they leave me? How could they do that to me?"

"It's okay, Susan." Rikki said. "We're here at Mako now."

"And we're mermaids." Cleo said happily. "All of us."

"We are happier when we're mermaids." Emma said.

Susan stopped crying. "Yes, the moon is so beautiful isn't it?"

"You don't need them." Rikki told her.

Susan started to smile. "Watch this..." She waved her hand at the water and it grew and grew and took the shape of a rather out of this world crown. (It was in fact the exact shape of Susan's crown in Narnia) Then she moved it so it went over her head. Then she froze it in place. It feel on her head with the thud but it didn't hurt.

The mermaids clapped with delight.

"There you all are!" Lewis exclaimed as he arrived. "Come on, time to get goi-Susan, what is that thing on your head?" He noticed her ice crown.

"My crown." Susan said proudly. "I'm Queen Susan The Gentle."

Lewis was very surprised by this. The other girls acted strangely during full moons but they'd never claimed to be royalty.

Susan didn't noticed his shock. She simply relaxed in the water with no intention of going anywhere.

"There's no way we're getting them out of here." Max told Lewis.

"Why not?" Lewis asked.

"They'll fight us, and you know they'll win." Max shuddered. "There's too many of them."

"We could each take on two." Lewis said.

"No we really couldn't." Max insisted. "Trust me on this."

"So what do we do?" Lewis asked. "just stay here until morning?"

"Yes, and when the moon goes down we all get home safely." Max said calmly.

In the morning, the three mermaids were back to normal. Lewis and Max helped them out of the water and when they were dry and had gotten their legs back, they all got onto Lewis's boat.

"I'm sorry we just ran off like that." Cleo told Lewis.

"I'm not." Rikki said.

"Well I am." Emma said glaring at Rikki.

"I've got a horrid headache." Susan moaned putting her hand to her head.

"You did have a crown made of ice on your head most of the night." Max told her.

"I did?" Susan tried to remember but couldn't. "How odd."

"You said something about being 'Queen Susan the Gentle'" Lewis said.

Susan looked very thoughtful. "Did I say anything else?"

"Not really." Lewis said.

"Nothing at all?" Susan asked. "Did I happen to mention a lion?"

"Um no?" Lewis wondered where she was getting with this.

"Oh, okay then." Susan said. Then she turned to Rikki, Emma, and Cleo. "Thank you for coming to find me, will you do me a favor?" Susan asked them.

"Sure, what?" Emma asked.

"Come see me this afternoon." Susan said. "There's something I want to tell you."

"What is it?" Rikki asked.

"You'll see." Susan told them.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is?" Lewis moaned as they pulled into the harbor.

"Dr. Denman's boat!" Cleo gasped. "What's she doing here?"

"Maybe it's not what we think..." Emma said trying to sound cheerfull. "Maybe she's not coming back for us after all. She doesn't even know about us still being mermaids."

"I have a bad feeling about his." Max said.

Rikki and Lewis nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sings: Cliff hanger, hanging from a cliff, and that's why he's called cliff hanger...


	6. Not your Grandmother

"Hello girls." An all too familiar voice said.

Cleo gulped. Rikki clenched her fists. Emma frowned. Dr. Denman greeted them as they parted their boat.

"Ella..." Susan whimpered loud enough only for Rikki who was sitting right next to her to hear. Rikki wanted to remind her that Ella Sting was dead but it didn't seem like the best time to do so.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked trying not to sound nervous.

Dr. Denman gave them a phony but big smile. "I like it here, it's a good place for a scientist."

"Aren't you embarrassed after what happened last time?" Rikki asked with her eyebrows up.

Dr. Denman didn't answer her. "Who's this?" She looked at Susan.

"My Grandmother." Rikki lied.

Emma played along. "Rikki, don't you think your granny is cold and would like to get out of this boat?"

Rikki nodded and she and Cleo helped Susan out of the boat while Lewis and Emma helped Max who was a little sea sick up.

Dr. Denman sighed and went back into her boat.

"Come on." Emma told Susan as they hurried across the shore and into Susan's house.

"Grandmother huh?" Dr. Denman laughed to herself watching from the boat. "I didn't know you were related to the Pevensies."

She laughed even harder looking at a black and white photo of a smiling young dark-haired girl standing beside a light haired boy who was holding a sea shell to her ear. The photo had been taken by a spying Ella Sting many years ago. I didn't prove anything about Mermaids but the likeness of the old woman she's just seen to the girl in the photo was a little to close to be coincidence.

"Girls I know I said to come this afternoon." Susan told them as she started making tea for everyone. "But if you have some time now..." She looked over at Lewis and Max. "I think I want you to know as well."

"Should I call Louise?" Max offered. "Or..."

Susan nodded. "Could you? I think she should know too."

Louise arrived with in a few minutes wondering what was so important.

Susan took a deep breath. "There's something I never intended to tell anyone. In fact the Professor said not to unless I knew they'd gone through the same thing..." Susan sighed and reached out to pat Cleo on the hand and smile at all three girls. "You've all been like a family to me since I've come here. You didn't have any reason to be...but you were. I wont forget your kindness."

"You were one of us." Cleo said. "It was our duty."

Susan gave them a knowing look. "From what I heard from Max, you didn't treat Charlotte like family and she was a mermaid too."

"We tried." Emma reminded her. "She didn't want it."

Susan looked at Lewis. "You remind me of a boy who used to follow me around the subway station when I was younger, good natured..." She laughed now. "...but a real pain in the butt." She turned to Emma, Rikki, and Cleo "Or should I say tail?"

"Thank you." Lewis said some how knowing she meant it as a complement and not an insult.

"And Max..,you've been so kind to me..." Susan sighed. "And Louise you've been such a good friend..."

They all formed a circle around her to listen to a story she wanted to tell them. It was unbelievable but somehow they all believed it. It a story of four children who traveled into a land of winter defeated a which and became the kings and queens of that land which was called Narnia. They were the servants of a mighty and mystical Lion who's love saved the life of the younger boy as well as all of Narnia. A Lion called Aslan.

"I knew you were different." Louise said. "And I thought there was more to the tale than well..." She winked at her. "Your tail."

"What a story!" Gasped Lewis. "It's really something."

Cleo was awestruck. "You were a queen of a whole country...that's an even bigger secret that being a mermaid."

"Maybe." Susan agreed. "But not as dangerous."

"What ever happened to Aslan?" Emma wanted to know.

"I suppose he's just going about his life same as ever." Susan said. "There's no reason he shouldn't or wouldn't."

"What do you think Rikki?" Susan asked realizing she hadn't spoken yet.

"I think it's unbelievably cool." Rikki told her. "but..."

"But what?" Susan asked.

"I can't quite picture you with a bow and arrows." She laughed before finishing her tea which was now a bit cold because the story had taken hours to tell.

Susan began to laugh. "Neither can I when I look in a mirror. I sometimes think 'that old goat was the best shooter in the land?' It really is laughable."

"I've got to go." Cleo said sadly. "Dad's coming back from his trip and I know Kim's not going to cover for me." She got up.

"I've got to go too." Rikki told her. "But I'll visit soon."

"Me too." Emma sighed.

Max remembered that he'd promised to deliver a pound of fish to a friend of his and had never gotten around to it. "I've got to go before my friend flips out on me."

Louise stayed with Susan a little longer but soon had to go as well. Susan was left alone. She sighed and sat in a chair by the window.

I do wonder if those girls wont find Narnia or something like it themselves some day, She thought. You never know.

The bell rang. Louise must have forgotten something. Susan wobbled over and opened it. It wasn't Louise, it was Charlotte.

"Hello Charlotte." Susan said in an annoyed voice. "Can I help you with something?"

"As matter a fact yes." Charlotte told her. She gave her a slow smile and said. "Catch." as she spoke she threw a water balloon at her.

Susan fell to the floor no longer in her old woman form but once again in the form of a young mermaid.

"I think you can take it from here." Charlotte said to someone behind her.

Dr. Denman walked it along with some of her workers. "Well if it isn't Rikki's grandmother." She joked.

"Leave me alone!" Susan demanded. She raised her hand at some of the water left from the balloon hoping it would help her but instead she felt someone behind her grab both her hands and tie them together.

Another worker pulled out a straight jacket and started putting it on her.

"Let me go!" Susan insisted trying to wiggle lose but failing because the more she wiggled the tighter they tied her.

"Now do we have to tie your mouth or will you come quietly?" Dr. Denman asked as they lifted up the poor mermaid and started to carry her out the door.

"Bye bye." Charlotte waved to Susan with a smug look on her face.


	7. The Tail of an old friend

Before Susan knew it, She was being taken into a large expense looking lab of some sort.

"Now, Susan, I think we need to make a few things clear." Dr. Denman said.

Susan wasn't going to listen to this. She might not have been able to use her powers or escape from the straight jacket, but there a was one this she could do. She spit in Dr. Denman's face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Dr. Denman told her coldly. "If I were you, I'd been willing to work with me..."

"Never!" Susan said. "I'll kill myself. I swear I'll do it. I'll starve myself, I won't eat, what good will I be to you then after I'm dead?"

"Some good, I could take you a part piece by piece and study you if it came to that." She told her. "But I don't think you'd want that to happen."

"Why?" Susan asked with a strong feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Because, then I'd need another live mermaid to replace you." Dr. Denman explained. "Can you think of three I might go after?"

"They aren't mermaids anymore." Susan lied, hoping to save them.

"Don't play that with me." Dr. Linda Denman looked smugger than ever before. "Charlotte told me everything."

Oh Charlotte, how could you? Susan thought to herself, After all that had happened. She wouldn't have liked it if this had happened to her during her time as a mermaid, why would she do this to someone else?

"You'll go after them whatever I do." Susan realized. "You're trying to trick me."

Dr. Denman shook her head. "I won't. You see, you are ideal, no one cares about you enough to notice that you're gone, your family's dead, and you don't look old in your mermaid form. The girls...well, their parents might get upset and cause a problem. I'm willing to go there if I have to but frankly, I'd rather not."

Susan's eyes grew wider and she gulped. There was no way out of this. She was doomed.

"Don't you see?" Dr Denman asked her, "It's you or them."

"Don't hurt them." Susan said. "Do whatever you want with me just leave them alone."

"I knew you'd see reason." Dr Denman sighed. "I don't know why my great grandmother had such a hard time with you, you're child's play really."

"I most certainly am not!" Susan retorted hating her more than ever.

"Of course you are." Dr. Denman said. "You're the biggest fool I ever heard of. By the way, I think Peter would agree with me, too bad he's dead."

"You are a demon in human form, you know that?" Susan snapped. "And you don't know anything about Me or Peter or any of us so don't start jawing at me like an idiot."

Dr. Denman kept smiling. "I know a lot about you and your family. My great grandmother knew far more than you gave her credit for. She just was never able to prove it. I know everything about you. Like that you're boyfriend dumped you right before he died in the crash."

Susan didn't want to think about that. She didn't like the way things had ended with Peter. "Shut up."

"No one cares about you." Dr. Denman told her. "Not back then and not now."

"That's not true." Susan said sharply. "My family loved me. And so did Peter."

"I believe his last words to you were..." She paused for a second. "Let's see if I remember... 'I never want to see you again'?" Dr. Denman raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah, lots of love there."

Susan started to weep. Those had been his last words to her. She's told herself he didn't mean it for years and years she's assured herself that it wouldn't have been the end if only he'd lived, but for some reason that argument failed her now.

"Untie her and put her in the tank." Dr. Denman told her workers. Then she looked back at Susan. "Remember, try anything, even use your powers just a little and I'll go after the girls faster than you can flip that fat fish tail of yours."

Susan nodded and wept harder. What did it matter? She it was over. She was old and alone anyway. The workers did as they were told and placed her in a huge see-through tank in the middle of the room. Susan didn't fight them. As she slid into the water, she let her self sink to the very bottom and rested her back against the glass to the right of her. She couldn't cry under water but she could cover her face with her arms and not come out for a long time. And that's just what she did.

There was a rustle and the sound of the lab door opening. "Hullo." An old breathless voice with a strong British accent said. "I need to pick up the trash."

"You will wait until we leave you old fart." Dr. Denman hissed at him.

"I was hoping to be home early tonight..." The old janitor protested. "I don't like walking home in the dark."

"If you want to keep this job, old man, you will do as you are told." Dr. Denman snapped.

"What have you got there?" The janitor looked over at the tank. Where a bizarre, woman-fish sat rolled now with her back towards them.

"If you must know, it's a real live mermaid." She told him. "It's going to make me famous. Now get out until I tell you to come in and clean."

The Janitor looked horrified and he griped his mop tighter. "You can't just keep her in that thing" He eyed the tank with a look of utter disgust.

"It's not nice. Why don't you just take a photo and put her back into the ocean. I'm sure the poor thing doesn't want to be..."

"Get out!" Dr. Denman told him. "You aren't the boss you pick up the trash now pick yourself up and get out."

The poor old man wobbled out. Susan glanced up at his back as he left. Poor man. There was something strangely familiar about him but she couldn't figure out why. All she knew was that he seemed like the only kind person in the whole lab. He'd wanted them to set her free. If only it were that simple.

Hours later, Emma was digging through her room wondering where her purse was. She so rarely ever misplaced things and it was driving her crazy. Finally she decided to call Rikki and ask if she had any idea as to were it could be.

"When was the last time you saw it?" Rikki asked.

"Two days ago." Emma told her. "I..." She slapped her forehead. "I left it at Susan's house!"

"Oh, okay." Rikki said hanging up. "Bye then."

Emma raced over to Susan's house. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it. The porch looked slightly smashed like it had had too many people on it at once. The door was wide open. Emma walked into the house.

"Susan?" She called. She almost stepped in a puddle of water that was on the floor next to the remains of a broken water balloon. The photo of Susan's parents had fallen to the floor and the glass on the frame was all cracked and broken. What had happened? There was a small piece of paper on the ground. Slowly Emma reached down to pick it up. It was a business card that read "Dr. Linda Denman."

"Cleo!" Emma now joined by Rikki ran up to Cleo as she was about to go to her job at the marine park.

"What happened?" Cleo asked.

"Dr. Denman got Susan!" Rikki blurted out.

"Oh no!" Cleo's eyes went wide with shock.

Lewis was sitting at the Juice Net and he was taking a sip of a smoothie when the girls ran in.

"Dr. Denman kidnapped Susan." Emma told him.

He sip out his drink on the table and gaped at them. He hoped he'd heard Emma wrong.

"What are we going to do?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know." Lewis felt panicked.

"I'm going to track down Denman and get her out of there." Rikki said firmly. "Who's with me?"

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa." Lewis cut in throwing his hands in the air. "We don't know where Dr. Denman is, what are we going to do? Crash into every lab in town until we find her."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Rikki shrugged.

"We can't just break into labs!" Emma protested. "Do you know how much trouble we'd be in?"

"No more trouble than Susan's in right now." Rikki reminded them.

"She's right." Cleo said.

Meanwhile back at the Lab it was getting dark and Dr. Denman announced they were done for the day.

"We'll be back tomorrow." She promised glancing at the tank where Susan was still huddled up in a corner. "She going to make me rich, I can feel it."

"And clear Ella Stings name." A worker added.

"That too." Denman waved it off as if it were a nice but boring added bonus. Then she called flicked off the lights and walked out the heavy doors that slammed behind her and her workers with a bang.

A few moments later, the Janitor wobbled in and flicked the lights back on and started cleaning. Susan snuck peeks at the man clean trying desperately to figure out where she'd seen him before. She couldn't guess.

He did everything he had to do. He cleaned the counters and moped the floors slipping and nearly hurting himself several times. "I don't know if you can hear or under stand me Mermaid." He said without looking at the tank. "But I don't suppose you'd mind me talking, Both you and I haven't got a friend in the world. Unless you've got friends in the ocean, you very well might."

Susan could hear him but it was slightly muffled. His voice was familiar too.

"I used to live in London, great place, I went to school and had a good life, even a crush who never noticed me. I had everything a guy needed. I don't even know how I ended up in this line of work." The janitor sighed as he finished cleaning.

Maybe she'd seen him somewhere in London. She listened more carefully now.

The janitor looked at the tank. "Poor thing." He said. He looked both ways to be sure no one was around and then put his hand spread out on the glass. "I do hope you'll be free someday."

Susan looked up and swam towards him. She put her hand on the glass from her side of the tank and gave him an understanding look.

As their eyes met, the man's face dropped and for one horrible moment Susan feared he was going to have stroke and die right there in front of her.

He didn't have stroke though he looked like he might. Rather he softly uttered in a pale sounding voice, one word, "Phyllis **."**


	8. Breaking and entering

"This is a felony, you know, breaking and entering." Lewis told the girls as he picked the lock of a lab door with an over-sized safety-pin. "We're all going to end up in jail."

"He's right." Emma moaned. "We're all going to jail. My parents are never going to trust me again."

"Relax." Rikki said. "We're only going to jail if we get caught. Which we wont. Besides, what else could we do?"

"Did you get it yet?" Cleo asked Lewis.

"I'm trying!" Lewis barked. "Don't rush me."

Finally with a click the door's lock snapped.

"I really hope she's in here." Emma said. If not, there was going to be a lot more breaking and entering going on that night.

"Think they have an alarm?" Cleo asked as they tip-toed inside.

"God, I hope not." Lewis moaned. He didn't want to set it off if there was one.

"We'll just watch where we step and we should be fine." Rikki told them.

They crept through the long narrow hallways. Thankfully this lab wasn't a very big one so there were only a few rooms to check.

"No one found her?" Cleo asked as they left the building and Lewis struggled to snap the broken lock back into place.

Rikki and Emma shook their heads.

"Okay, the next Lab is only three blocks away." Rikki told them as she crossed the 'We sea!' Lab off the list.

"How much lock and key is it under?" Lewis asked.

"Three locks on the main door and two on the side doors if the internet's right." Rikki said.

Suddenly Emma let out a cry of terror as she banged into someone.

"Emma?" A male voice said.

"Ash?" She gasped with relief. "Oh, you scared me!"

"What's he doing here?" Lewis asked.

"I may have called him." Rikki confessed. "I just thought he might be of some help."

Lewis rolled his eyes. "Who's next? Zane?"

"Present!" Zane said as he raced up to them.

"That would be a yes?" Lewis frowned at Rikki.

"Oh come on!" Rikki said, not understanding what the big deal was. "They care about helping us and if two heads are better than one, six are better than four."

"But six is also more easily noticed than four." Emma protested. Great, now all six of them were going to be crowded in a cell.

"So who's this other mermaid?" Zane asked them

"Her name's Susan." Emma told him. "She's an old woman who becomes young when she turns into a mermaid. I don't know how but Dr. Denman got a hold of her and took her away."

The group walked and whispered together until they reached the next lab. Zane actually found a quicker way to break them in by cracking the ends of the hinges off the door.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't the first time you've broken in somewhere?" Lewis asked folding his arms across his chest.

Zane shrugged indifferently as Lewis tried to disable an alarm box. He succeeded and they all went in.

"Susan?" Cleo called as she opened a door that lead to a room with a large tank in it. The others followed her.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaa!" a shriek came from the tank. A large sea-beast that looked like the Lock Ness Monster turned and looked at them from his side of the tank. Well that sure wasn't Susan.

"Cool." The boys gasped when they saw the monster.

Ash and Zane started to walk away with the girls but Lewis was still gaping at the creature. "Wow!"

"Come on, Lewis!" Emma came and pulled him away from the tank.

Meanwhile, Susan and the Janitor were still staring at one another from their sides of the tank.

Susan couldn't believe it. Poor boy, he'd seemed so smart. Why on earth was he picking up trash in a mean lady's lab? But she was still a little selfishly glad to see him.

"Phyllis." He repeated weakly. No it couldn't be her. It might look just like her but it couldn't be. It was impossible. But it wasn't impossible. And it didn't just look like her, it was her. He just knew it somehow.

She smiled at him remembering how rude she'd been when they'd first met. How she had refused to tell him her real name. And he did have such a kind face.

"I always knew you were different." The Janitor shook his head in amazement. "I just didn't know how different."

Susan shrugged at him wishing she could say something. Maybe if she swam to the very top of the tank, they could talk. She did so. "Hello." She said.

"No wonder you liked being by yourself." He laughed. "You were a mermaid."

"Yeah." Susan said not knowing what else to say.

"Don't mermaids get old?" the Janitor asked.

"Not in the same way humans do. When I dry off, I'll be the same age as you." She explained. "By the way, sorry I wasn't nice to you when you tried to talk to me."

The Janitor didn't care about that. "It doesn't matter."

"I can't believe you pick up the trash." Susan told him. "You were such a bright student."

She'd noticed! He couldn't help but feel glad about that. "My family ran out of money." He didn't really want to get into it. "Yours?"

"They died." Susan told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He felt stupid for bringing it up.

"It's alright, you didn't know."

"Well I guess what we have to do now, is find a way to get you out of this place." He said kindly.

Susan shook her head. "I can't leave here, I'm being blackmailed. If I leave, Dr. Denman will go after my friends."

The Janitor looked more horrified than ever. "I always knew she was mean, but that's really cruel even for her."

"Well this is the end for me I guess." Susan sighed weakly. "But at least I have you to talk to. It's a little better than being here all alone. I guess I don't prefer to be left alone anymore."

"I swear on the grave of my father, I will get you out of here if it's the last thing I do." The janitor said firmly.

Susan admired his courage but knew it wasn't going to help. "What about my friends? They're young, they have their whole lives ahead of them. I can't just get my freedom at the cost of theirs."

"We can protect them." The Janitor protested. "There are places were people can hide."

"I'm not about to let those poor girl spend their youth in hiding because of me." Susan refused to give in. "But will you come back and talk to me again tomorrow?" She asked looking at him hopefully.

"I will." he nodded. She thought he'd given up on the idea to set her free but he hadn't he just needed more time to think it through. There had to be a way out. There just had to be.

The sun was starting to come up and Lewis, Rikki, Emma, Cleo, Ash, and Zane had to get home before they were missed.

"We haven't checked all the labs." Rikki protested. There were two left.

"We don't have time." Zane said. "Some of those places are going to opening in a manner of minutes and we'd be caught."

"We'll try again tonight." Ash told Emma kindly. "We'll be sure to find your friend then."

"But what if Dr. Denman has her shipped away and..." Cleo couldn't even finish the sentence with out tears coming to her eyes.

"We wont lose her." Emma said. "We'll do everything we can."

"Do you remember when we first met her?" Rikki asked Emma as they walked passed the beach.

"How could I forget." Emma smiled at the memory. "We thought she was Cleo at first."

"I'm not as fast a swimmer as she is." Cleo pointed out.

"That's what tipped us off." Rikki teased.

"Look!" Lewis pointed at Susan's house there was a light on.

"Emma, did you turn on light before you ran to tell us?" Rikki asked.

Emma shook her head no. "I didn't wait long enough for that."

"Someone's in there." Cleo said pointing to a shadow on the far side of the wall she could see through the window.

"Maybe someone's stealing something." Zane offered.

"She doesn't have anything worth stealing, Zane." Emma explained. "She's very nearly dirt poor."

"Then...who?" Ash wondered.

"Come on let's check it out." Rikki told them making a dash for the still-broken porch.

"Rikki!" they called, Chasing after her. "Come back!"

"Hey you!" Rikki shouted as she ran in the house.

A confused-looking young man turned to look at them. He was holding the smashed photo of Susan's parents in his right hand.

"Okay buddy, what's your deal?" Zane snapped as he ran in.

"My deal?" The man looked very puzzled.

"Yeah, why are you breaking into our friend's house?" Emma demanded breathlessly.

Rikki yanked the photo out of his hand. "Stay out of her stuff."

"Your friend?" The man gasped. "You know Susan? Please, tell me where she is."

"Why do you want to know?" Ash glared at him.

"Yeah!" Lewis put in.

"Uh...guys?" Cleo said, looking at Susan's two unsmashed framed photos.

"Okay out with it!" Rikki said. "Who are you?"

"Guys!" Cleo tried again. No one listened to her.

"No matter, you'll just talk it over with the cops." Zane said pulling out his cell phone.

"Guys!" Cleo shouted much louder, She picked up the photo of Susan and Peter and shoved it in Lewis's face. "Look!"

"Oh my god!" Lewis put his hand to his mouth. The young man in front of them looked exactly like the boy in the photo.

Emma took the photo, looked at it, and then looked back at the man. "It can't be."

"He'd be really old now." Rikki said as she took the photo from Emma. "Wouldn't he?"


	9. He came back for her

"There's an easy way of checking this." Cleo said as she walked over to the corner where Susan kept her cardboard box. She dug through it until she found what she was looking for. The last photo of Peter ever taken. She held it up to his face. "It's a perfect match."

"How can you tell?" Ash asked. "The photo's out of focus."

"Your face is out of focus." Rikki snapped at Ash, grabbing the blurry photo from Cleo to have another look. "The photo's fine."

Ash blinked at her in confusion. "Was that an insult?" No one answered him.

"Is this you?" Emma asked the man who was staring at them as if they had an extra head.

"Yes." The man told them. "That's me."

"But you're...dead." Cleo managed to say.

"We're talking to a ghost?" Zane asked his fingers still on the police speed dial button of his cell phone, ready to press it at any moment.

"I am not a ghost." Peter laughed. "I'll explain everything later. I promise, but first tell me where Susan is. I've been looking for her everywhere."

"She's in a Lab somewhere." Lewis blurted out.

"Lewis!" Cleo, Rikki, and Emma glared at him.

"Well she is!" Lewis defended himself.

Peter looked horrified. "She's what?" He hoped he'd heard them wrong.

"She was taken away by a scientist named Dr. Denman." Emma told him. "We've been trying to find her. We've narrowed it down to two labs but we don't know which one she's in."

"How could this happen?" Peter asked in a confused voice.

"We don't know." Emma said. "I came here and she was gone, everything was a mess and there was water on the floor."

"Poor Su." Peter shook his head. "If only I'd managed to come sooner."

"I'll say!" Rikki cut in. "Everyone thought you were dead! Susan thought you'd died in 1949. Where have you been all this time? Why are you young?"

"Rikki!" Emma scolded. "Don't be rude."

"Should I still call the cops?" Zane asked, the confusion becoming too great for him.

The girls shook their heads and Zane put his cell phone back in his pocket.

"Come on." Peter told them as he started for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Emma asked.

"To save Susan." Peter said as if it were obvious. "I need you and your friends to show me where the labs are."

"But we can't just go breaking into labs in the day time." Lewis explained. "We'd all go to jail."

"My parents are going to freak out when I see I'm not in bed." Emma told Peter. "I have to get home. We can't do anything now."

"I'm not just going to do nothing." Peter said firmly.

"Who said anything about doing nothing?" Said Lewis.

"We're going to try again tonight." Ash added.

As they were leaving the house, they banged into Miss Chatham. They'd forgotten to tell her about what had happened and she was on her way for an early morning visit.

"What happened?" Miss Chatham asked looking at the smashed up porch and the blood-shot eyes of everyone there.

"Louise!" Peter gasped.

"You know her?" Cleo asked in amazement. How was that possible?

"I've seen pictures." Peter explained. "Julia showed some photos of her friends to Edmund and I."

"You knew Julia?" Rikki asked but didn't get an answer.

Miss Chatham's eyes widened. "Who are you?"

"It's Peter." Cleo said.

"How?" Miss Chatham asked.

"No time to explain now." Peter said, his mind still on the rescue he'd have to pull off.

"I think explaining would be good." Miss. Chatham said in a calm but firm voice. She turned to Zane, Ash, and Lewis, "Go home boys." Then to the girls. "Your parents will worry, if you run you might still make it home before they notice you're gone."

"But-" Peter started.

Miss Chatham nodded at him. "As for you, let's go the pier. We have to talk and then make a plan."

"A plan?" Peter asked.

"To save Susan of course." Miss Chatham added with a smile.

At that, Peter gave in and followed Louise to the pier while the others ran to their homes.

"Before we make any father plans," Miss Chatham said as she slowly eased herself down on the wooden deck. "You'll have to explain yourself."

He didn't know how to explain. After all, she didn't know about Narnia. Or did she? Something about the way she looked at him seemed to say she knew. Maybe Susan had told her. Yes, that had to be it.

Peter took a deep breath. "The day of the 1949 railway crash, Susan and I had just had a fight...well that part doesn't matter...I'll skip that." he had never told this story before and was a little unsure of where to begin.

Miss Chatham didn't say a world she simply sat there listening to him.

"I was with Edmund at the train station." Peter started again. "The train was coming around too fast. All I could think was 'Please don't let Lucy get hurt' and before I could think anything else. I felt something hit me. Or so I thought. I figured I was dying, I certainly felt lighter and people do go on about feeling light when they die. Well then I realized I wasn't dead after all, I was still thinking and breathing and all that. I was suddenly standing in a beautiful place next to a strange door and Edmund, Lucy, and the other four friends of Narnia were there with me." He paused when he got to that part.

Miss Chatham nodded in a very 'go on,' sort of way and he continued the story.

"I thought it was Narnia but it wasn't of course, Narnia was no more, I saw it die and I locked the door on it myself with a golden key. It was Aslan's country. I figured we'd be sent back sooner or later, come to find out we weren't going to be sent back to our own world at all. In this world, we'd been pronounced dead just like everyone else in the crash." Peter looked like he was going to start crying. "I didn't care, wouldn't have wanted to come back to this world anyway but I couldn't stop thinking about her." He didn't have to say what 'her' he meant.

Louise understood. She'd seen youths in love before. She knew what happened when they were torn apart from one another. In that way, she needed no explanation.

"I begged Aslan to let me come back here and bring her back with me." Peter cracked his knuckles as he spoke. "He said she didn't believe in him and that she couldn't come and that there was nothing he or I could do about it. That I couldn't make her believe. I was angry, I wouldn't speak to him for a long time. Lucy in particular was disappointed in me when she saw the way I was acting but then one day, Aslan came up to me and said, 'go'. Just like that, no other words, just 'go'. And right then I saw everything melting away I was back at the train station. But it was so different it looked newer and more advanced. I hadn't realized that all these years had passed in this world, It had been less that two weeks for me. I didn't know it had been a lifetime for her. I searched all London for her. I ended up finding out that she'd left and come here. I was a little worried that she might have forgotten me and married someone else but even then I still wanted to find her. I came here and traced her down that house over there. When I went in everything was a mess and the photo of mum and dad was all broken so I picked it up."

"Ah." Miss Chatham sighed. "That's quite a story. Is that all?"

Peter shrugged. "The only part I left out was that I didn't come empty handed, a bag appeared by my side it had some Narnian things in it. To help her believe or something, I guess." Then he changed the subject. "Now about those plans, how do we get her out of that lab?"

"I suppose we could sneak in at night but she might be under alarm or more lock and key than we could get through." She told him.

"What if we use trickery?" Peter asked raising an eyebrow.

"What kind of trickery?" Miss Chatham wanted to know.

"What if I pretended to work there?" He was getting a bit of an idea now. "Once we figured out what lab it was I could sneak in with a wheelchair or something pretend to I don't know...run some sort of tests...and then wheel her right out of there?"

"That might just work." Louise seemed impressed. "But what about Dr. Denman? She'd wouldn't now how you came back-goodness knows seeing you alive and young might shake her up a bit-but she'd know your face."

Peter didn't seem worried about that. "I could hide my face. That wouldn't be a problem. I could wear one of those white lab masks over the bottom of my face. Or if worse came to worse I could wear some sort of hood and claim that I'd burned my face as a child and refuse to take it off."

"Okay." Miss Chatham was starting to warm up to the plan. "We could use the others help too." She started to get up.

"Hang in there Su." Peter said softly as he looked down at the water. "Where ever you are, I'm on my way."

At that moment Susan was lying at the bottom of the tank. She was asleep having a nightmare.

She was a young teenager standing at the English railway station wearing the last Narnian gown she'd ever worn. The long white and baby blue one with the puffy sleeves looking out at the station. Peter and Edmund were standing by the tracks. The train came around way to fast.

"Edmund! Peter!" She called out. "Look out!" they couldn't hear her. She raced towards them even though running in the large gown was very hard. She got there just as the train hit them. She tried to push them out of the way but it was too late. The train had already crashed. She couldn't see them anymore. The hem of her skirt was caught under the train. Slowly she lifted it up. It was covered in blood. Thick dark blood that dripped off the skirt in little ruby-red drops on the iron tracks in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream but it filled with water.

Susan's eyes snapped open. She was still in the tank in Dr. Denman's lab. It was a dream but it had seemed so very real.

Before she had more time to think about it, Dr. Denman herself walked in along with her workers. "Okay," She said. "Let's get started."


	10. Keep holding on

Unlike Cleo and Rikki, Emma didn't make it back home before her parents noticed that she wasn't there. Emma had tripped over a badly-parked bike on the way. She hadn't been hurt or even bruised by it but it had slowed her down just enough to miss her mother's 'wake up call'.

That's it, She thought to herself, I'm done for. I'm never going to be allowed out of the house again until I'm a grandmother.

She ran faster now, slamming right into another girl in a hurry. It was Charlotte.

"Watch where you're going." Charlotte barked at her.

"You watch it." Emma frowned at her.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked her.

Emma didn't owe her an expiation. She tried to walk around her.

"If you're going to see your friend, don't bother." Charlotte said. "I heard she got taken away by some scientist. Tough break." She shrugged and started to walk away.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Emma's head. Just how did Charlotte know that? Unless she was in on it herself... "Do you have something to do with that?"

"Me?" Charlotte asked in a phony-shocked voice, putting her hand to her heart. "Me? Honestly Emma, it's not nice to go around blaming people for things."

"I swear Charlotte, if you had anything to do with this..." Emma was getting more upset by the second. "This was cruel even for you."

Charlotte started to walk away but then whispered in Emma's ear. in a voice that gave her the chills "You lose some, you win some."

Emma wasn't about to let her off that easy. She grabbed Charlotte's arm and pulled her back. "Tell me where they took her."

"I don't know." Charlotte said in a snotty voice. "And I don't care."

"Charlotte, how could you?" Emma asked. "After all that happened?"

"She deserved it." Charlotte said.

"Why?" Emma shouted. "because unlike you, she knew how to be kind to people?"

"I thought you three wanted to be the only mermaids?" Charlotte said smugly. "Three powers, three girls, remember? Isn't that what you said when I became a mermaid? I was too powerful and so was she."

"Don't play games with me." Emma said. "You didn't do this to help us. You did this to hurt us. You knew we cared about her."

"You'd better get home." Charlotte said. "I think your mommy is worried."

Emma shoved passed Charlotte angrily. This just got worse and worse.

As Emma raced up the path to her house, Charlotte continued her early morning walk. She ran into right into Miss Chatham and Peter.

She didn't know who Peter was as she'd never even seen a picture of him but she knew Miss Chatham was one of the last people she wanted to run into. It almost made her feel guilty as Louise was one of her grandmother's best friends. But then she thought about Susan being able to control water in the same way she no longer could and the feeling passed.

"Hello Charlotte." Miss Chatham greeted her coldly.

"Hello, Miss Chatham." Charlotte answered back. She turned to Peter. "Who's this?"

"A nephew of mine." Miss Chatham lied quickly. "He's come to visit."

She smiled at him. "I'm Charlotte."

He wondered if he should give her his real name and almost didn't but decided there was no harm in it. "Peter."

Charlotte tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So I'll see you around?"

"Huh?" Peter hadn't been listening he was too busy thinking about how best to find out what lab Susan was in.

"I said, I'll see you around?" Charlotte repeated in a kind voice that was nothing like the snotty one she used on Rikki, Emma, Cleo, and even Lewis now that they weren't together anymore.

"Sure." What did it matter?

"Okay." She said. "It was nice meeting you, Peter."

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Susan was being lifted out of the tank and on to a stretcher.

"Don't let her get dry." Dr. Denman told them. "If she dries off even a little, dump some water on her so we can run these tests."

Susan lay still as one of the workers came at her tail with a pair of tweezers and ripped off a scale.

"Ow!" She whimpered. "That hurt."

Everyone ignored her and two of the workers started looking at the scale under a microscope while about four other started studying the end of her tail itself. One of them yanked on her fin too hard.

"Hey, there is a person under here!" Susan reminded them.

"Can it, Mermaid." One of them barked. "Or does Dr. Denman have to put you to sleep to finish this?"

"Maybe you should, Linda." One of the kinder workers offered. "We shouldn't have to hurt her with out reason."

"Well, Lisa, if that's how you feel, maybe we should." Dr. Denman gave in. "Someone get me a needle with some anesthetic in it."

One of the workers handed her a huge needle that was the size of a small dog. Susan gulped, they weren't really going to stick her with that thing were they?

"That's enough anesthetic to put down six whales." Dr. Denman hurled a piece of equipment at him. "Why do you make my job so hard? It's a mermaid you moron, not a giant!"

Another worker handed her a smaller needle. "Here you are."

"Thank you." Dr. Denman turned to the worker who'd handed her the poodle-sized one. "You're fired. Clean out your cubby!"

The worker shuffled out of the room, muttering that Dr. Denman was the not so nice word for female dog under his breath.

"And where the heck is my new intern?" Demanded Dr. Denman. "I was informed he'd be arriving an hour ago!"

The said intern was not a bright fellow. He was sitting at the Juice Net next to Lewis blabbing about the new job he was going to start.

Lewis wasn't paying attention at first. He'd been up all night and was extremely tired. But then he heard the man next to him say the word, 'Mermaid'.

"What about a mermaid?" Lewis asked him.

The man lowered his voice. "Well, don't tell anyone but my new employer, Dr. Linda Denman has got a mermaid locked up in a tank at the John Malcko Lab."

Lewis was about to burst out with happiness. Thanks to this big mouth they finally knew where Susan was. He called Cleo right away.

"Cleo, I know where she is!"

"You do?" Cleo cried joyfully. "Where?"

"The John Malcko Lab." He whispered. "I'm going to call Miss Chatham and Peter right now, can you call the other girls?"

Cleo started calling them right away. Rikki picked up. Emma didn't.

"I can't get a hold of Emma." Cleo said in concerned voice after she had told Rikki the good news.

"Me either." Rikki told her. "I hope she's alright."

Emma was sitting on the couch with her mother and father standing in front of her with their arms folded across their chest.

"Explain young lady." Her father said crossly.

"I-" Emma started before her cell phone rang. She reached for it but her mother got to it first and hung up.

"Mum, that could've been important." Emma protested.

"What's important." Her father glared at her. "Is that you tell us where you were all night long."

"I was..." What could she tell them. "Looking for a friend of mine." She explained weakly. "She's gone...missing."

"What friend?" Her mother asked looking a little surprised. "I was under the impression that you were out partying with you're friends."

"Why would you think that?" Emma asked. "We were trying to find Susan."

"Your friend Charlotte called us and said that you-" Her father started.

"Wait, isn't Susan that nice old woman who's friends with Miss Chatham?" Her mother cut it.

"Yes." Emma told her. Then she turned to her father. "Charlotte's a liar. She hates me, she was just trying to get me in trouble."

"What were you thinking?" Her mother demanded ignoring the comment about Charlotte. "Going looking for a missing person in the dead of night? You could've been hurt. When you found out she was missing, you should have called the police and let them deal with it."

"We only wanted to help." Emma blurted out suddenly wanting to cry.

"We?" Her parents asked at the same time. "Who were you with?"

"Rikki and Cleo." Emma confessed. "They were worried about her too."

"Who else?" Her father wanted to know. "Charlotte said there were boys with you."

Emma hated Charlotte more than ever now. "Ash, Lewis, and Zane might have tagged along."

"Look," Her mother said. "I believe you. Because you are my daughter and have never lied to me before. But I don't want you going out in the middle of the night again, got it?"

"Got it." Emma said wondering if she might have to sneak out again that night.

"Now did you call the police?" Her father asked.

"Well, Zane was going to..." Emma didn't want the police to get involved but she couldn't lie to her parents.

"Going to?" Her mother snapped. "If someone's missing you call the police, end of story." She picked up the phone and called the cops. After talking to them for a bit she turned to Emma. "Dear, you're friend is fine, her vacation just ended and she went back home."

"No, she didn't." Emma insisted. That Dr. Denman was a sneaky one. "All of her things where still there."

"I guess they were just things she didn't want." Her father shrugged.

"Right, like she wouldn't want photos of her dead family?" Emma said recalling the precious black and white photos that Susan lived to look at and all those small funny objects she kept so close to her heart. Susan would never leave those behind.

"I don't know. It's none of our business what she left behind and why." Her mother said. "Now go get ready for school."

That's right, it was a school day. Emma had forgotten all about that. Before she went upstairs she reached down to where her mother had placed the cell phone and called Cleo back.

"Emma?" Cleo asked nervously. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Emma sighed. "Charlotte saw us last night somehow and she called my parents."

"What?" Cleo gasped. "Why didn't she call ours?"

"Maybe the little witch didn't have time." Rikki offered. "She was too busy spying on us."

"Well all that matters is that we know where Susan is now." Cleo said. "Look, let's all meet at the juice Net in ten minutes."

Emma gulped. She'd have to skip school and she'd be in trouble but there was nothing she could do about it.

Peter, Lewis, Zane, Cleo, Ash, Rikki, and Miss Chatham were all waiting for Emma when she arrived at the JuiceNet.

No one else was there. The place was closed because all the kids were at school. Not that it mattered because Ash had the keys due to working there.

"Peter, what are you wearing?" Emma asked when she saw him in a white lab coat and surgeon's mask.

"I'm Dr. Denman's new intern." Peter said lifting the mask to reveal a smile. "Didn't you hear?"

"Yeah, what did you do with the other guy?" Rikki wanted to know.

Peter laughed. "First I brought him a few drinks then when he was woozy beyond belief, I may have shoved him in a closet." He looked a little bit guilty as his eyes turned to the closet behind them.

"Nothing Personal buddy." Lewis shouted in the direction of said closet.

"Alright." Rikki said. "Let's get this show on the road. Everyone know what to do?"

Everyone cheered. They were going to save Susan at last.

They weren't the only ones planning a rescue though. The Janitor was also making some plans of his own. "Hang in there Phyllis."


	11. The rescue part 1

"Ow!" Lewis cried as Zane's elbow nearly knocked him out. "Watch it!"

"You watch it." Zane shoved him trying (And failing) to get a bit more room for himself.

They were all pig piling into Ash's car. It wasn't nearly big enough for all of them but it did have tinted windows and an extra large cup holder.

Miss Chatham of course took the passenger seat because she was an old lady and it would've been rude to make her ride in the back. The only one who didn't agree was Zane. He did a lot of whining about that seating arrangement.

Emma, Rikki, Cleo, Zane, Lewis, and Peter were all in the back seat. It was three seats between six people. Ash was spared from this nightmare because he was driving.

"I don't see why I couldn't drive." Zane sulked.

"It's my car." Ash reminded him without taking his eyes off the road.

"There'd be more room if Peter would just put his bag on his lap and not where my feet should be." Zane said.

"Zane, how can Peter but his bag on his lap? His butt is practically on the window." Lewis pointed out.

"Ow that's my foot!" Rikki cried out as Zane tried to put his feet down.

"No, sadly that's my foot." Emma whimpered.

"Ash, for god's sake, an old Grandma in a mini van just over took us!" Rikki whined. "Can't you go any faster?"

Ash ignored her and kept driving.

"Lewis, I can't breathe." Cleo tried to push his rear off of her liver.

"I swear if anyone farts I will kill them." Zane said sharply.

"As interesting as talking about body gas is." Peter cut in. "I think we should go over the plan one more time."

"Yeah, about that plan." Zane said. "I see a huge hole in it."

"What wrong with it?" Peter asked.

"How is your mermaid going to fit in the car?" Zane wanted to know.

"Easy." Lewis said. "We leave you behind and you can walk home."

"No fair!" Zane said for the billionth time that day. "Why am I the one who gets left behind?"

"Will you shut up back there?" Ash asked getting fed up. "I'm trying to drive."

"Trying but not succeeding." Rikki retorted. "We're going three miles an hour and if you stop short one more time, my head is going through the windshield."

"Well let's see you do better!" Ash snapped. He'd had enough.

"Fine I will." Rikki stood up and somehow managed to switch places with Ash while the car was still in motion. She stepped on the gas and the car sped up by about seventy miles.

"Does she have a license?" Ash asked nervously as a sudden turn threw all six of them to the left side of the car.

"No." Emma moaned. She leaned forward. "Rikki, slow down will you?"

"Look, do you want to save her or not?" Rikki demanded.

"I wanted to save my friend not end up in jail for speeding." Emma said.

"Chill, I'm hardly speeding." Rikki said as she overtook a speeding biker-guy on a motorcycle.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Lewis moaned clutching his stomach about to hurl.

"Don't you dare puke on me!" Zane barked shoving the now extremely car sick Lewis in Cleo's direction.

"I don't want his vomit on me either!" Cleo protested. "I love him not his puke."

"Ash, switch places with me." Zane begged.

"Not on your life." Ash didn't want to get puked on either.

"Peter?"

"Don't look at me." Peter couldn't have moved even if he wanted to.

Miss Chatham was the only one who didn't say a word for during the car ride of terror. She simply took deep breaths and keep her eyes on the blurring road in front of them.

Finally the car stopped with a screeching halt in front of the lab.

The back door was opened and everyone fell out on top of each other. Lewis barfed in the grass.

"EW!" Rikki said getting out of the front while Emma opened the door for Miss Chatham. "What did you eat Lewis?"

"Well it's not like I farted." Lewis defended himself.

"It's a wonder we didn't get pulled over by the police." Emma groaned, Ignoring Lewis. her head was still spinning from the ride over.

"I told you everything would be fine." Rikki forced a smile. She had to force it because it was impossible to smile for real when your friend was in Dr. Denman's evil clutches.

"Okay." Cleo said when she's gathered her thoughts. "Let's get started."

"Alright." Peter said. "You all know what to do." He seemed to be hiding some sort of weapon under his lab coat.

"Does he have a gun?" Zane asked nervously.

"It's a sword." Peter corrected him.

"You have a sword?" Ash seemed impressed. "Cool."

"Yeah very cool...let's get a move on." Rikki rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I'm going in." Peter told them. "Remember what you have to do." He put his mask over his mouth and went in.

"Think he'll pull it off?" Emma asked Cleo.

"I hope so." Cleo said. Then she turned to Miss Chatham and lowered her voice. "I think you should have that fake heart attack now."

Louise gulped and fell to the ground clutching her chest and looking very weak.

"Help." Lewis cried bending down next to Miss Chatham. "My grandma's having a heart attack!"

The Security Guards ran over to see what was going on.

Emma and Ash nodded and each other and ran into the building when the guards weren't looking.

As they turned a corner, Emma gave Ash a kiss.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Just in case I get grounded for the rest of my life and don't get to do that again for a while." she smiled at him.

He smiled back. "We should get you in trouble more often."

Then they continued down the hallway.

Peter had already reached the room where Dr. Denman was working. Susan had already been given the anesthetic and was out cold while the workers ran tests.

When he saw her he though he might start crying. It was pitiful seeing her like that. This was the last place he'd ever wanted her to end up. Although he knew he wasn't really to blame, he felt guilty. Like he had failed to protect her or something. Well he'd set it right soon.

"There you are!" Dr. Denman barked at him as he entered the doorway. "You're late! I'm cutting your pay." Peter shrugged. He didn't care. All he cared about was getting Susan out of there. He looked at her again. She looked so helpless. Poor Su. He wanted to race closer, pull her off the stretcher and use his sword on anyone who got in his way but he knew he couldn't do that. Not without ruining the plan.

"What are you looking at?" Dr. Denman snapped at Peter who was still gaping at Susan. "It's only a mermaid get over it."

Peter nodded and wordlessly walked over to the table.

"To bad she's a fish." One worker joked. "She's hot."

"I know." Another worker answered. "I'd date her but I hate sea food."

Peter wanted to kill them. How dare they talk about her like that! He clenched his fists to keep them from pounding the jokers into the ground. He also didn't like who free the male workers seemed to feel about touching her. If one of them 'slipped' one more time, he was going to thrust his sword into their guts!

"Let her out!" Screamed Emma's voice crashing into the Lab as the plan called for. Ash right behind her.

"Ah, so you've tracked me down have you?" Dr. Denman gave them a cold smile. "You don't really think you can save her do you?"

"We had to try." Emma said boldly just like Peter had told her to say.

"Yeah." Ash added weakly. The plan didn't call for him to say anything but he was feeling left out.

Calmly Dr. Denman turned to Peter still under the impression that he was her intern. "Take her to the X-Ray room I'll meet you there after I call the cops on these kids."

Everything was going according to plan. Peter eased her off the stretcher and in to a wheel chair. He noticed now that she was snoring softly. She always had snored in her sleep. It was somehow reassuring that everything was going to be alright.

"Do you need help?" One of the workers asked Peter. He shook his head. He had to do this alone or the plan would fail. The worker didn't protest he was a smoker and wanted a break anyway.

Meanwhile the Janitor was putting the finishing touches on his own plan. The first thing would be to save Phyllis after that he could figure out what to do about her friends. So to save her he decided he'd wait until a worker took her out into the X-ray room and get her out that way. It would be easier to take on one worker than then the seven that followed Dr. Denman where ever she went.

Too keep Dr. Denman from the X-Ray room, Emma and Ash continued to bother her. Emma used her powers to freeze everything in the lab. Ash then proceeded to slip on everything Emma froze thus smashing and breaking things 'by mistake'. Dr. Denman tired calling security but they were too busy with 'dying grandma' outside.

Peter was wheeling Susan down the hall. This was working. He was going to take her to the X-ray room but only for a moment so that he could cover her tail before taking her out of the lab. Then they'd be free. He hoped Emma and Ash were distracting enough. And that Louise faking death was convincing enough. And that Zane was keeping watch. And that in a bit Rikki would do her part well.

Finally they reached the X-ray room. He noticed a little bit of moment in Susan. She might be starting to wake up. Poor thing, she was soaking wet so that she didn't turn back into an old human. Of course it never acured to those awful people that Susan was very prone to pneumonia. Peter remembered one time as a little kid that it had almost killed her. If being this wet for that long on a stretcher hurt her even a little, he'd never forgive them.

Slowly he pulled something out of his bag. It was Susan's old Narnian coronation dress. The long blue fabric would keep the tail hidden until they had time to dry her off. He started to slip it over her head and pull it down past her tail. There. Now she didn't look like mermaid. She just looked like a pretty young woman in a expense looking gown who happened to be soaking wet under it. It would have to do.

The Janitor burst in, mop in hand.

Oh no. Peter thought. I can't get her out of here with him watching. I have to do something.

He took off his mask so that his voice wouldn't be muffled. He wasn't worried about some guy that picked of trash seeing his face. "You can clean up later." he told him.

"Sorry." The Janitor said. "I'm not here to clean up."

"They why are you here?" Peter asked, getting irritated.

"I'm here to get her away from people like you." The janitor said boldly.

"People like me?" Peter shouted. How dare he! He wanted her to be trapped in a lab the rest of her life? "What about people like you?"

Susan was starting to wake up even more now. Her fingers tightened around familiar fabric she hadn't felt in a long time. She wondered what was going on. She heard shouting quite close to her. What was going on? Her eyes started to open slowly.

Peter and the Janitor were starting to get into a fight. Peter didn't feel right fighting an old man but he was careful and he knew what he had to do.

Susan gasped. She was in a dark room with a reddish light. In front of her she could make out the shape of the janitor fighting someone. What was he doing? And who was that he was fighting? It was too dark to tell. She didn't want him to fight anyone. He was old and could be hurt. She didn't want him to rescue her. She'd thought he'd given up that idea.

"Stop!" She tried to shout but it came out hoarsely. But it did the trick. Peter and the Janitor turned to look at her at the same moment. Suddenly her eyes focused on the young man's face. It couldn't be!

"Peter?" She said weakly hardly believing her own eyes. How could he be standing right in front of her? He was dead!

Peter raced over to the wheel chair. "Oh thanks be to the Lion!" He kissed her on the forehead.

The Janitor was beyond puzzled. Why was Dr. Denman's worker kissing Phyllis's forehead? And what Lion? He didn't see any lions. "Wait a second, you actually care about her?"

"Of course I do." Peter snapped as Susan just looked at him with a bewildered expression on her face and tears in her eyes.

"So you want to get her out of here?" The Janitor tried not to laugh.

"Of course!" Peter was starting to get annoyed.

"So do I!" The Janitor couldn't believe his luck.

"What if I don't believe you?" Peter didn't trust him.

"Ask her." The Janitor said softly. He pointed to Susan.

"It's alright." Susan managed to say despite her shock. "He's a friend."


	12. The rescue part 2

Emma and Ash were still distracting Dr. Denman when Rikki ran in.

"You too?" Dr. Denman said. "Wait until the police come, you three are in big trouble."

"They have to see us to catch us." Rikki pointed out.

"And why wouldn't they be able to see you?" Dr. Denman asked..

"Because of this!" Rikki used her powers to heat up the ice that Emma had just made causing the whole room to be filed with steam.

"Don't let them get away!" Dr. Denman hollered at her workers. "Stop them!"

Rikki, Emma, and Ash ran out of the room before anyone could spy them through the thick steam.

"I got one of 'em!" Shouted one of Dr. Denman workers as the steam started to lessen.

"That's me you've got!" Dr. Denman growled. "Let go!" She shoved him off of her.

Back in the X-ray room, Susan still couldn't believe that Peter was really there.

"You died." She whispered. "How can you be here?"

"I'll explain everything later." Peter said, wheeling the chair out of the room. "Now we've got to get you out of this place."

"I can't leave here." Susan told him. "If I do, she'll go after my friends. She's even worse that Ella was."

"Your friends are helping us." Peter explained. "We're going to get you out of here."

"But why?" Susan asked, crying now. "Why? There's nothing for me. I'm just an old lady no one wants. No one loves me now."

Peter looked like he'd been slapped in the face. "What are you talking about?"

"Even you don't love me." Susan said,

"What on earth..." He'd come back for her and she didn't think he loved her?

"You told me you never wanted to see me again." Susan reminded him.

"I didn't mean it. I was just mad at you." Peter had never thought even for a moment that she believed he didn't care. "I love you, Su."

Susan was crying even harder now. "I love you too."

The janitor was crying now. "That's so touching..." He sobbed. "I haven't seen anything that beautiful in years."

Peter continued wheeling her down the hallway (The janitor followed.) Emma, Rikki, and Ash ran up behind them.

"Hello girls." Susan said to Rikki and Emma. "Who's this?"

"This is Ash." Emma introduced them. "Ash, this is Susan."

"Hey." Ash said by way of greeting as they continued to run as fast as they could.

They were almost at the door. Suddenly Charlotte walked in. "Dr. Denman? There's an old lady dying out-" She started. She stopped mid sentence when she saw Ash, Rikki, Susan, And Peter. She didn't notice the janitor.

"Hello Charlotte." Susan glared at her. "Thanks for getting me thrown into this place. Getting stuck with needles and living in a tank was really the cherry on top of a great vacation."

"You had something to do with this?" Peter asked Charlotte angrily.

"No." Charlotte lied.

"Out of the way." Rikki told her.

"I can't." Charlotte said smugly. "You're stealing lab property."

"Drop dead, Charlotte." Emma hissed.

"Don't let them put me back in there." Susan blurted out suddenly. She seemed frightened. Now that she had a reason to be free she didn't want to go back.

Peter looked down at her. "I wont let them hurt you again." he promised.

"Why do you even want her?" Charlotte asked shooting Susan a cold look. "She's really old you know."

"I don't care." Peter frowning at Charlotte. What was wrong with this girl?

"Move out of the way." Rikki said again.

Charlotte didn't budge.

Rikki punched her in the face and then shoved her out of the way. "Thank you!" She snapped.

The force of the punch had sent Charlotte down to the floor but it hadn't taken away the smug look on her face. "It's going to start raining." She told them.

"Oh no." Emma gulped as she saw the black clouds through the lobby's glass door.

"Run for it now." Peter told her and Rikki. "If you go right for the car, you can make it."

"What about you guys?" Rikki asked.

"We'll be fine." Peter said. "I'm not going to let them harm one hair on her head. Now run!"

Seeing no other way out, Emma and Rikki made a dash for the car. Ash stayed behind. Susan suddenly started coughing.

"Su?" Peter asked nervously. She was starting to dry off. She was turning old right in front of him. Her face went quite red as it started to wrinkle. Her old human lungs were weaker than her young mermaid ones. She coughed even harder now.

Peter wheeled her to the door as fast as he could but Charlotte and some Lab workers who'd just entered the lobby beat them there.

The Security also raced in. Emma and Rikki watched horrified from the car window as Susan and Peter got trapped. That was of course before their view was ruined by buckets of pouring rain.

"Zane and Ash are still in there." Emma said weakly. Hoping it would be of some help.

"What good is that?" Rikki snapped. Zane might have been her boyfriend but she knew he wasn't going to be able to do much in this situation. And she didn't hold out much hope for Ash either.

Miss Chatham who'd joined them in the car was worried too. "Please let them make it out of there."

"Where's Cleo?" Emma asked Suddenly realizing she wasn't with them.

"I thought she was with you and Ash." Rikki said going over the plan in her mind and remembering just as she was speaking-not without some panic-that the plan hadn't called for Cleo to be with Emma or Ash.

"Oh no!" Emma gasped. "Cleo's still inside!"

"What?" Rikki cried. "Why?"

"She was the back up." Emma recalled. "She was going to raise the water of the tank just in case Peter couldn't get to her. She's trapped in the building now."

"Maybe we'll be lucky and the rain will let up." Rikki said. It poured even harder. "...or it could just get worse."

Inside the lab, Cleo ran into the lobby and saw that she, Zane (Who had also entered the lobby), Peter, and Susan were trapped.

Dr. Denman came into the lobby now. She gasped when she saw Peter next to Susan.

Peter pulled out his sword. He wasn't going to give her up with out a fight. It may not have been Narnia and he might not be king here but it was still a battle. One he couldn't afford to lose.

Dr. Denman's security team and workers ran over to Peter and tried to pull the sword out of his hand. Still coughing, Susan knew what she had to do. She wobbled up from the wheelchair and grabbed a bow and arrows from a tacky display close to the door. It was the world's stupidest decoration, but it was useful even though it wasn't nearly as fine as the weapons Susan had once been used to. No one (Not even Dr. Denman or Charlotte) noticed her grab it. Still coughing and shaking all over, she aimed it at the leg of one of the workers trying to disarm Peter.

"Ow!" The worker cried grabbing onto his leg. Zane shoved some of the less persistent workers out of the way of the door when they turned to look.

Susan only had about five arrows and she had to make them count. She shot another one at the arm of one of the biggest security guards. With out him fighting at his best, Peter had a chance of winning.

Charlotte ran up to Susan and pulled the remaining arrows away from her. Susan tried to hold on to them but she was too weak, she fell back into the wheel chair with a thud. She wondered if she'd broken a hip. Cleo raced over and pushed Charlotte to the ground. The bow broke neatly into two pieces under the weight of the Charlotte's left arm. Which though making a slight cracking sound was not broken in the fall (unfortunately).

Cleo picked up an arrow and used it to fight off one of the workers that came to help Charlotte up. It was pathetic to use an arrow like a sword or knife but there was nothing else she could do.

"Cleo dear," Dr. Denman tried amid all the fighting. "If you give up now, I wont tell your parents or your friends' parents where you are right now. They'll never know you skipped school."

"Never!" Cleo shouted. Did Dr. Denman really think she was that heartless?

Peter used the flat of his sword to knock the whacking sticks out of the hands of three security people. Ash, Zane, and Lewis (Who'd managed to slip in fairly unnoticed) picked them up to fight with.

Charlotte got up and tried to fight Cleo using another arrow. Cleo kicked her to the ground but not before Charlotte got a hold of the locket around Cleo's neck and pulled it off.

She'd never really wanted Cleo to have it back anyway. Lewis made her give it back after stealing it before. But Lewis wasn't going to get in the way of her getting what she wanted again. That Locket had belonged to her grandmother. She wanted it, end of story.

Peter, Lewis, Zane, Ash had fought off everyone other than Dr. Denman and Charlotte. The workers and security team that hadn't been knocked out had run away. Unfortunately, only to get back up. Which meant they really needed to hurry out of there. Thankfully no one had been able to get near Susan because the Janitor (Weak and old though he was) stood guard of her. Even when Dr. Denman shouted. "You are so fired, go back to England!"

But that wasn't really much to be cheerfully about with Susan being so weak. She seemed to be fading fast. Her eyes seemed to be closing despite her attempts to keep them open. Her coughs though twice as bad as before were not as loud.

Cleo finally managed to tie Charlotte up with some rope from the same display that Susan's bow and arrows had come from. After than she focused Charlotte's hand open and took the locket back.

"Gracie may have been your grandmother, but that doesn't make this yours." Cleo said, like she'd wished she'd said the first time it had been stolen from her. She hadn't had the courage before. But that talk she'd had with Susan before had given her far more than either of them realized at the time. It had given her something more powerful than the mermaid powers themselves. It had unlocked the key to something deep inside her. Something Charlotte was no match for.

"Ugh!" Charlotte cried out.

Dr. Denman still stood in their way. "I'm not going to let you leave."

"That's what you think!" Cleo said boldly. She waved her hand at the rain and wind that rapped against the glass door. It burst in and knocked Dr. Denman down to the ground. She hit her head and was out cold.

"Way to go, Cleo!" Lewis said, clearly impressed.

Thankfully, none of the water had hit Cleo, so she wasn't a mermaid. However, how was she going to get in the car without turning into one? The janitor had an idea. He grabbed another wheel chair.

Lewis grabbed a blanket from behind the front desk (I don't know what it was doing there) and put it over Cleo's legs so that it would clover her up when her tail appeared. Ash grabbed the wheelchair and wheeled her to the car as fast as he could. Peter did the same with Susan. As soon as the water touched her she turned young again and stopped gasping and coughing. Her eyes opened and she smiled at Peter as he helped her into the car.

"You saved me." She said looking at all of her friends. Her eyes were filled with more joy than any of the girls had ever seen in her before.

Zane, Ash, and Lewis were left behind so that Susan wouldn't be too crowded in the back. They had to race to Zane's house to get another car and follow the others where ever they were going next. (Which might be kind of hard because Rikki was driving)

"Now why didn't we do that in the first place?" Lewis wondered aloud.

"His car is more expensive than mine but it fits even less people." Ash explained. Oh, that was why.

Susan and Cleo dried off in the car. After being dry, Cleo felt perfectly fine. Susan on the other hand did not. She felt weak beyond belief. She coughed harder than ever. Peter worried that they were losing her.

"We'll take her to my house, no one will be home now." Emma said loud enough for Rikki to hear and make the right turn to get there. "Then we can call the doctor."

"but what if they ask who she is?" Peter asked them.

"She's my grandmother." Rikki called from the front. "That's our story and we're sticking to it."

"You'll be alright." Cleo tried to assure Susan.

Susan looked at her weakly as the car continued to speed down the roads. The last bits of rain were falling in sheets and they could barely see where they were going. Suddenly there was a bang.

"Did we hit something?" Emma asked.

"The side of your house." Rikki admitted. "Sorry."

"I am so dead." Emma moaned.

They all got out of the car just as the rain finally let up. Susan was put in Emma's guest room to rest. Zane, Lewis, and Ash showed up right before the doctor came. The doctor examined Susan and then sighed. He led the others into the hallway before speaking/

"I'm sorry to tell you this." He said. "But your..grandmother did you say? Isn't in very good shape. I don't think there's anything we can do for her now." He shook his head clearly upset he had to deliver such news to people so young. "You'd better say you're goodbyes."

Just as he spoke, Max arrived (Louise had called him over) and heard what he said. "No." He gasped.

"She can't...die..." Peter said. Not after all they'd done to save her.

Zane and Ash lowered their heads. Lewis stood gaping at the doctor hoping he hadn't heard him right. Louise gulped and put her hand to her heart. Rikki started crying. Emma and Cleo had never seen her cry before. It was almost as heart-wrenching as the news itself.


	13. Start of a new Tail

Saying goodbye is almost always hard, For Rikki, Emma, Lewis, Cleo, Max, Louise, Zane, Ash, and the janitor (Who'd managed to track them down because of Emma's photo and address on her school website) it was very hard to say goodbye to Susan. But it was hardest for Peter because though they'd all come to care deeply about Susan, he was the one who loved her the most.

All ten of them walked slowly into the guest room where Susan was laid on a bed with warm blankets on top of her.

"So he told you?" Susan's voice was soft, almost a whisper.

"Told us what?" Zane asked.

"That I'm going to die." She said simply.

They all looked at her through the blurry tears in their eyes. How could she speak so calmly about it?

Emma sighed and took a step towards the bed. "I can't believe all this happened." She shook her head. The day she'd first met Susan with Rikki at the moon pool seemed so long ago now. "I'm going to miss you."

"You'll be alright." Susan told her.

Ash was next. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Susan said.

"Goodbye." Zane said.

"Goodbye to you too." Susan said politely.

"I'll miss you, Phyllis." The Janitor wept.

"My name's Susan Pevensie." It was better late than never. "I wish I'd told you sooner. What's your name?"

"William Burke." The janitor said.

"Wait." Peter looked at him strangely for a moment. "Did you say Burke?"

"Yes." The Janitor nodded.

"Are you by any chance related to Jacob and Elise?" Peter asked in an almost breathless voice.

"That's my aunt and uncle." William told him.

"Look at that, Peter." Susan said, happy to see that not all of Peter's blood relatives were mindless jerks. "You have a long lost cousin."

"So you're the boy they gave up!" William's eyes widened. "I always wondered what happened to you. My parents where actually planning on adopting you at one point."

Rikki was bawling when it was her turn to say goodbye.

"Don't cry dear." Susan half coughed half said. "You'll have a good life. The time for sorrow is not now."

"But you're one of our best friends." Rikki wept. "What are we all going to do without you?"

"Rikki, things happen." Susan looked very sympathetic. "There's nothing you or I can do...we just have to move on."

"Are you scared?" Rikki asked.

"No." Susan said. "Just tired. This old body isn't going to last very long."

"There must be something we can do." Cleo said in a desperate voice. "Something we haven't thought of."

"Cleo," Susan called her over to the bedside. "Don't forget what we talked about."

"I won't." Cleo promised.

"Goodbye, Cleo and Rikki." Susan sighed her voice sounding even weaker now than it had a few moments ago. She looked at Lewis. "And goodbye to you, Lewis."

"Goodbye Susan." He said. "Sorry about bothering you about your powers and stuff."

"Don't worry about it." Susan told him. "But I want you to promise me something."

"Anything." Lewis said. "Just name it."

"When you're a scientist, promise me, you wont be anything like Dr. Denman."

"No chance of that." Lewis said. He couldn't believe he'd ever liked that horrible witch, Linda Denman.

"Max," Susan said. "Thank you. You've always understood somehow."

"I'll miss you, Susan." Max gulped.

It was Louise's turn. "Goodbye Susan."

"Goodbye, Louise."

Peter was last. "Su..." He started. Susan smiled at him and reached up to touch his face with her shaking, wrinkled hand.

"Let's give them some time alone." Louise said, leading everyone else out of the room. No one protested they all walked out with their heads bowed low and tears sliding down their faces.

"Goodbye Peter." Susan said. "Thank you for coming back."

"It didn't do any good." Peter cried. "I'm losing you again."

"I can die happy now, knowing that you still care." Susan explained, her voice more faded than ever. "It's done more good for me than any doctor ever could."

"I wish I could do something." He said not knowing how much more of this he could take.

"I know you do." Susan said, stroking his cheek. "But there isn't. The only thing you can do is grant my last request."

"Anything." Peter said.

"Leave the room." She said softly, weeping very hard herself now. "I don't want you to see me die."

"Can't I stay here with you until..." Peter tried.

"You can't." Susan took her hand off his cheek and rested it back on the bed. "Please go."

"I love you." He said. He couldn't believe he'd never say that to her again. "I always have." He reached over and gave her a hug before leaving her.

"I love you too." She said back as he left the room.

For a moment, she smiled to herself. She couldn't help but think of her younger self and how badly she'd always wanted to hear him say that. Then she closed her eyes, alone in the room, fairly certain she'd never open them again.

Outside the room, the others waited for Peter.

"Is she gone?" Lewis asked.

Peter didn't answer, he was crying too hard. Rikki, Emma, Cleo, Max, Lewis, Louise, and the Janitor were sobbing too. Ash and Zane were misty-eyed.

"What are you going to do now?" Ash asked Peter a few moments later.

"I don't know." Peter shook his head. "What does it matter?"

"If you want, you could stay with us for a while..." Emma offered. "I could try to talk my mom into it. Of course it couldn't be more than a few days but..."

"No thank you." Peter said. "I'll just stay at the house Susan was renting until I find a way back into Aslan's Country."

"I can't believe we failed." Rikki said. But little did they know, they hadn't truly failed.

Susan was still alive in Emma's guest room though her eyes were close tightly. She felt weaker and weaker...then not so weak. She felt warm familiar breath on her face and the scratch of a whisker on her cheek. Slowly her blue eyes opened and to her amazement, there was a large golden Lion in the room looking down at her.

"Daughter of Eve," The Lion said calmly. "Do you know me?"

Susan was too old to pretend that Narnia wasn't real. That He wasn't real. His strong breath on her face was more real than anything she'd ever felt before. "Aslan." She whispered a smile forming on her face.

"Ah, so you do remember me."

"I'm sorry, Aslan."

"It's alright." Aslan told her.

"Aslan, can I touch you?" The longing to stroke his rich. golden, warm-as-the-sun fur was getting to be too much for her. She remembered that he'd once let both her and Lucy warm their hands on his fur.

Aslan nodded his mane shaking up and down as he did so.

Susan reached out to touch the fur but then she noticed her hand and gasped. It wasn't an old hand. It was the hand she'd had as young woman. "Am I a mermaid again, Aslan?"

"You are still a mermaid child, but you are not wet and don't have a tail right now." He explained.

"Then I am young for real?" Susan asked.

"Why don't you look in the mirror and find out?" Aslan raised one of his golden-brown eyebrows playfully.

Susan got off of the bed and walked over to the mirror. She was young again. She touched her face to be sure. "What happened?"

"I've breathed on you with the breath of my real country." Aslan said. "And in that country, no one is old. Digory Kirke and Polly are not old anymore, and you are not either."

"But I'm not in your country now." Susan was confused.

"You are not in my country at the moment, but my country is inn you. It is the reason Peter has not turned old in this world and it is the reason you are young now."

"How long will it last?" Susan wanted to know.

"Hopefully forever." Aslan said.

"Then I'm not going to die now?" Susan asked him.

"No, child, you aren't at death's door anymore." Aslan told her. "That door isn't yours to enter."

Now Susan did what Lucy had always felt safe doing but she had always cringed at in the past out of a fear that she no longer had. She threw her arms around Aslan and hugged him, rubbing her face against his mane.

"Queen of Narnia," Aslan said as soon as she left go of him. "I think there is a young man in another part of this house waiting for you."

Susan kissed Aslan's nose. Then she opened the door. She turned to glance back at Aslan on last time, but the window was open, and the Lion was gone.

Zane, Ash, Max, and Louise had already left. Peter, Emma, Cleo, Rikki, Lewis, and the Janitor (or William Burke as we now know him) were the only ones remaining. They all sat wordlessly on the couch staring blankly at the wall in front of them.

Peter started to leave. No one said anything. He walked over to the front door and started to open it.

"Wait." A familiar voice behind him said. "Don't go."

Peter turned around and saw Susan standing behind him. She was young again and she didn't look ill anymore.

"Susan..." He started to smile. "How?"

"Aslan." Susan said. She didn't need to say anything else.

Peter reached into his bag and pulled out Susan's old crown. "I think he'd want you to have this back." He gently placed it on her head.

She leaned forward and kissed him.

Susan and Peter heard clapping behind them. Emma, Rikki, Cleo, Lewis, and the Janitor had heard voices and come to see what was going on and had broken into an applause.

"Susan," Peter got down on one knee and looked up at her. "Will you marry me?" He'd wanted to ask her long before now, but had never gotten a real chance to.

"Say yes!" Lewis blurted out, not realizing he was spoiling the moment until Cleo smacked his arm. "Ow!"

Susan let out a light chuckle at that and then turned back to Peter. "Yes." She said tears of joy now streaming down her face.

Lewis and the Janitor were both bawling at this point. Emma was passing out tissues.

"I can't believe one of us is getting married already." Cleo joked.

Soon everyone was laughing merrily. It wasn't goodbye after all. It wasn't the ending of the story. It was just a new chapter.


	14. The end of this tail

Susan, Peter, Emma, Rikki, Cleo, Ash, and Zane sat at the JuiceNet talking about some different things, laughing and having a good time.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Lewis said as he ran up to them with a newspaper in his hand.

Rikki took the paper for him and read the heading aloud. "Local Scientist Dr. Linda Denman forgets herself."

Emma looked down at the paper. "According to this, After hitting her head on the floor,-" She glanced at Cleo. "Dr. Denman has devolved a case of amnesia, possibly permanent and is being sent away to be with some family members."

"I guess this means we don't have to worry about her anymore." Ash said.

"But what about Charlotte?" Susan asked.

"The paper didn't say anything about her. She must have gotten free from the rope before back up arrived at the lab" Lewis told them. "I did see her walking to school today. She shot me a look to kill but she didn't say anything."

"Think she'll keep her mouth shut?" Ash asked.

"I've been wrong before." Lewis told him. "But hopefully this time she's really learned her lesson." Then he turned to Susan and Peter. "But what about you two? Aren't you going back to Aslan's country?"

Susan nodded. "As soon as we find a way there." She explained lowering her voice. "We haven't seen Aslan since he turned me young again."

"So you'll be staying with us for a while?" Cleo asked hardly daring to believe it.

"Sure looks that way." Peter said.

"Who wants another round of smoothies on me?" Zane offered feeling generous.

"Sounds great!" Lewis said.

"I'm game." Peter added.

"count me in." Rikki told him.

"Strawberry Splash for me." Emma ordered.

And so there were now not three, but four Mermaids. Rikki, Susan, Emma, and Cleo. And so this story is over but there is always, one more _Tail_ to be told _._

-The end-


End file.
